


Smile to the Stars

by vamplamp



Category: DCU, Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics), Red Hood/Arsenal (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - No Capes, Chance Meetings, First Meetings, Getting Together, Long-Distance Relationship, M/M, Panic Attacks, Past Drug Addiction, Past Torture, Romantic Fluff, Self-Esteem Issues, Self-Harm, batfamily, long-distance pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-19
Updated: 2019-05-12
Packaged: 2019-08-26 00:47:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 20
Words: 53,924
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16671562
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vamplamp/pseuds/vamplamp
Summary: Meeting Roy Harper in a dingy Star City bar is easily one of the best things that’s ever happened to Jason, but it’s not like he was known for being particularly lucky before now





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So this is my first time writing these characters but hopefully they won't be too OOC. Any and all helpful/constructive comments will, as always, be appreciated.

Jason took another sip of his beer before pressing the cool side of the bottle against his neck, sighing as the heat coursing through his body retreated for a blessed moment. Star City in the summer was too damn hot, especially compared to Gotham's near constant drab weather. Placing his drink back on the top of the bar and wrapping both hands around it, he briefly considered just going and finding Tim’s hotel room himself and breaking in just so he could be somewhere with working air conditioning, but his brother wouldn’t be finishing his meeting with the Queen Consolidated board for another 30 minutes and Jason had only just gotten back in the families good graces enough to start being trusted recently. This trip was meant to be a pleasant couples of days of brotherly bonding, not a chance to further estrange himself from his kid brother by getting him kicked out of his hotel. So crummy bars and moderately chilled bears it was. 

‘I’d ask why on earth you have a leather jacket with you on a day like this but honestly you look like the kind of guy who would do it just because he knows he looks good with it on and is willing to suffer.’

Jason side-eyed at the guy who had just appeared next to him at the bar before looking down at the jacket slung hazardously over the back of his chair and slowly back up again with a raised eyebrow.

‘I’ll have one more of what he’s having plus a coke if you will,’ the guy gestured to the bartender who nodded and slung the drinks in front of them. Jason took in this guy who’d just bought him a drink in a half empty bar at 2pm on a Tuesday afternoon trying not to naturally judge him too hard. His red hair was pulled messily up behind his head, the escaping strands sticking to his neck from sweat in a way that really shouldn't be as attractive as it was, exposing the way his tattooed arms filled out the sleeveless red shirt hanging from his frame.

‘I hope you’re planning to pay for that, cause I only had enough money for the one.’

‘Naturally, and that’s a Gotham accent right? Explains the jacket for one, I’ve only been there a few times but it rained basically the entire time. So...' he paused dramatically with a grin that said he knew exactly how cheesy he was about to sound and didn't care one bit 'what’s a handsome Gothamite like you doing in a place like this?’

Jason couldn’t help but chuckle into his drink, this guy with oil stains on his fingers and holes in his shirt but with something hinting that he was a lot smarter then he initially liked to let on, was hitting on him in the bar he’d walked into on random expecting to just have a drink and leave. But what the hell, this guy was hot, he checked his watch, and he still had 23 minutes until he was supposed to meet Tim.

‘My geek of a little brother is closing his big business deal and I’m attempting to rebuild some bridges by sacrificing myself to this insane heat in order to be there.’ Jason shot the guy a smirk as he reached for the fresh beer and took a sip.

‘Sounds incredibly noble of you, makes my story about escaping my workshop because him guardian said he might drop by in the next couple of hours and I’m desperately avoiding him sound a bit selfish,’ the reply was said like a throwaway but Jason could tell there was more feeling to it but didn't have a chance to press the issue, ‘I’m Roy by the way, Roy Harper.’  
Jason choked and started coughing violently when the drink went down wrong. Sure in all the pictures he’d seen Roy Harper, adoptive son of THE Oliver Queen had had short hair and been at least 3 years younger then the man next to him but how the hell hadn’t he recognised him. 

‘Oh god please tell me you don’t tell me they wrote shit about me in Gotham as well? Because that was way too coincidental for you not to know who I am.’ Roy rubbed a few circles into Jason’s back until the coughing calmed down.

‘Know who you are?’ he coughed again a little to try and ease the remaining rawness, ‘Roy, my name’s Jason Todd.’

Roy looked at him for a long moment before throwing his head back and laughing, exposing the lines of his neck to Jason for a long moment. ‘Goddamn, of course I’d run into a Wayne kid when I’m off trying to hide from Oliver. Though I suppose it could’ve been worse, I always regretted not getting the chance to meet you even when you were just Dick’s kid brother.’

‘I find that hard to believe considering the things everyone, including Golden Boy, was saying about me back then,’ he rolled his eyes and took another sip of his drink and let his voice take on a mock cheerful tint, ‘Billionaire Bruce Wayne takes in street rat straight out the Narrows: Genuine affection or just another charity case?’ Jason laughed humourlessly, expecting Roy to change the subject as soon as he could, just like everyone else did when Jason’s life story came up.

‘Huh is that all, try: Billionaire’s son shipped off to rehab, another ungrateful rich kid throwing his life away. Tabloids don’t mean shit man, they’d sell their souls ten times over if it meant more people would read.’ 

‘Good to know that’s a quality that isn’t reserved for Gotham,’ subconsciously, Jason twisted the watch on his wrist round a couple of times, calming down as he felt the buckle scratch against the inside of his wrist. If Roy noticed he didn’t say anything. It wasn’t that he wasn’t comfortable talking with Roy, if anything it was the complete opposite and that was what was making him nervous. He couldn’t remember the last time someone had willingly talked about the way Gotham’s elite had treated him for years after Bruce had first taken him in and the fact that Roy wasn’t treating him like he may as well have just started talking about brutal serial murder at a formal dinner was scarily refreshing to say the least. 

When he looked up again Roy was giving him a lopsided grin, a soft look in his eyes. At Jason confused frown he started to explain, the smile not leaving his face, ‘It’s just you are nothing like Di-‘

Suddenly, a flash snapped across their vision, blinding them both for a moment. Before Jason had a chance to react, Roy had already jumped up from his seat and shoved his hand over the lens of the camera, successfully blocking its ability to take anymore pictures. 

‘What the hell do you think you’re doing?’ Roy practically snarled. Surprisingly, the woman didn’t even flinch despite Roy being at least a full head taller than her.

Smirking at both of them her reply was completely unsympathetic, ‘My job. Or don’t you think the people are gonna be interested in the fact that the black sheep of both the Wayne and Queen families are meeting up in hidden away bars in the darkest corners of the city?’

Not unused to dealing with situations like this himself Jason got to his feet beside Roy, grabbing his jacket off the back of his chair at the same time and refusing to acknowledge the woman and her camera he directed his attention completely towards Roy, ‘Normally I’d be 100% down for a bar fight but honestly it is way too hot in this damn city and I’m mildly concerned that either of us could pass out if we tried. So what do you say we go find somewhere cooler instead.’ He twisted the watch around his wrist a little more, this time Roy’s eyes flicked down to the movement for just a moment. Roy smirked and let the tension release from his body a little as he let go of the camera and stepped around the woman not looking away from Jason, ‘You worried about my health Jaybird?’

Jason smiled back, it was more of a smirk than a grin but it really did feel genuine, ‘more like you know this city better than me Harper and personally I don’t enjoy heat stroke induced unconsciousness and choose between Jaybird and your trachea, you can’t have both.’

Roy only chuckled as he pulled a blue baseball cap from the back of his jean pocket and pulled it on, ‘So Jaybird how long before you need to be somewhere?’

‘Shit. Tim.’ He checked his watch and groaned, why the hell did he have to meet someone that he actually wanted to be around on the one day when he swore he’d be with his younger brother and join him at that goddamn corporate event tonight. ‘I wish I didn’t, like really wish I didn’t but I’m trying this new thing where my brothers can actually rely on me a little and I told Tim I’d meet him in like 5 minutes outside his hotel.’ God he wanted to ditch and stay with Roy so bad but he couldn’t bare having to face Tim and see that look on his face that just said he’d let him down again and his little brother wasn’t even surprised, he just couldn’t.

‘Another time maybe?’ Roy looked disappointed but understanding, he absently scratched along one of his tattoos as they stood awkwardly on the sidewalk. 

‘Yeah another time for sure. I really am sorry.’ With that he turned and headed back to where he’d left his bike in an alley down the side of the bar, speeding off toward Tim’s hotel and leaving Roy standing alone.

It wasn’t until he and Tim had ordered their main courses at lunch that he realised they’d never exchanged numbers, Jason felt like face slamming his head repeatedly into the table top.  
\---  
‘Christ Timbers, I can’t believe I spent all this time thinking Dick was the one that took the longest getting ready for these things. I swear I am this close to just leaving without you.’

As if on cue Tim appeared in the doorway looking far more put together than when Jason had last seen him. Concealer covered the dark bags under his eyes and he wore a charcoal grey suit with a black tie that was probably worth more than half of Gotham’s entire wardrobes put together.

‘It’s an important night Jason. I just closed my first ma-‘

‘Major deal for Wayne Enterprises, I know. Though I’m pretty sure when you forwarded me the guest list for this thing that Kent reporter guy from Metropolis is on it and we both know you’re just hoping he’s gonna have his son with him like last time he came to one of Bruce's.’ Jason grinned as he dodged the fist that was immediately swung his way, ‘I don’t blame you Timbo, really, not my type but even I’ve gotta admit he’s jacked for a Kansas kid.’

‘Oh shut it Jason.’

‘Well I’m just quaking in my boots now.’

Before Tim could take another swing Jason sent a grin his way and grabbed his suit jacket off the back of a nearby chair (black to go with his white shirt and red tie) heading for the door, ‘Come on, cars waiting outside and I refuse to be late. Brucie Wayne might like being center of attention but everyone knows Jason Todd is a lot more secretive and honestly I’m not sure I can take being grilled by too many reporters about what really happened when I disappeared in Africa for like 4 years so let’s go before we end up the last to arrive and get all the focus.’ He walked out before Tim had a chance to respond leaving his little brother the only option of rolling his eyes and hurrying to follow.

Jason couldn’t remember a time when he’d actually enjoyed these events, whether they were Bruce’s at the manor or those of whichever rich person in whatever city. When he was still a kid and Bruce had first taken him in it had been thoroughly unsettling to see his new guardian acting in such an obnoxiousness manor, even if Bruce had explained to him beforehand that it was because it was a huge advantage to be underestimated by his business rivals. Not to mention the fact that all the guests had pretended to dote on Jason himself but he knew they were whispering about ‘why on earth was Brucie letting his little charity case come to a proper event like this’, one lady had even excused herself from the people she’d been talking with to go wash her hands off after he’d accidentally brushed against her when they'd both reached for one of the hors d'oeuvres at the same time. He’d ended up spending most of the night hidden behind a pillar in the corner waiting for it to be over and considering faking a fainting spell near Bruce because the embarrassment would totally be worth being able to go and hide with Alfred in the kitchen. The only good thing about the night was when the Commissioner’s daughter and Dick’s friend Barbara had found him whilst she herself had been looking for a quiet spot for a quick breather and they’d ended up spending about 20 minutes dancing around the room together ignoring the disapproving looks and only laughing harder whenever Jason ‘accidentally’ stepped on people’s feet.

Then Ethiopia had happened, he’d been sent an anonymous tip from someone claiming to know the location of his biological mother. He’d been so desperate at the time, him and Bruce in the midst of yet another major fight and it just felt like when his entire life was falling apart he’d been handed a chance at the one thing that could begin to piece it back together. Of course all that had resulted in was him being locked in that damn room for almost 32 months, then after escaping came the 5 months with Talia travelling the world as he slowly came back to himself before finally returning to Gotham over 2 and a half years after he first disappeared, presumed dead. It took him months to even start to move on from the fact that Bruce had known the identity of the man who had orchestrated his abduction and faked death, he had had a name and yet he had done nothing. Sure the fucker had ended up thrown in Arkham for a few months before escaping but that was it, then again, Jason had reasoned at the time, it wasn’t like a dumb street kid was worth avenging when you’d already got the social credit for adopting him in the first place, not when the richer better replacement could fill the space just as easily.

Nearly 4 years after he’d first disappeared and 3 months after he’d started to heal things with the family, Jason had finally let Bruce legally resurrected him but insisted that they didn’t realise any details further than ‘he was abducted and we were lead to believe killed but he’s back now.’ The first gala he attended afterwards was almost more horrific than the ones he went to as a kid, half the reporters and attendees wanted to know every single details of what had happened and the other half would not stop commenting on how much he’d grown and filled out over the last few years, there were no boundaries in either region apparently.

So anyway, even though things had settled down somewhat these kind of events really weren’t Jason forte and often left him wanted to hide away on Bruce’s private island for the next month with nobody but the birds and fish for company, but he’d promised Tim he’d come support him tonight seeing as Bruce, Dick and Cass were all busy and Jason somehow came before the Demon Brat in order of preference so here he was, trying to heal things with the little brother he’d slightly hospitalized when he came back and came face to face with his replacement for the first time. That awkwardness was still present even if drastically deceased compared to this time 6 months ago.

‘Thanks for being here Jason, really, I know these things are hard for you,’ Tim glanced briefly down at where Jason had been twisting his watch again almost constantly since they’d gotten into the car, ‘so it means a lot that you’re willing to be here for me.’ 

Jason sat awkwardly not quite knowing how to respond as Tim trailed off and looked down at his hands where they lay in his lap, needing to dispel the uncomfortable energy Jason reached across the space between them and playfully cuffed Tim across the back of head causing his brother to immediately scowl a little and reach up in an attempt to fix his hair, ‘Yeah well, it was either me or Damian and even I don’t want to see what the headline would look like after forcing the two of you to spend an evening in the same place without Golden Boy around the play mediator.’ Part of Jason was just glad things felt back to their normal level again, as normal as him and Tim could be anyway but a small part at the back of his head told him that he should’ve said something more sincere than dispelling things with a joke, make sure Tim knew that of course he would always try to be there when Tim asked because they were brothers and he didn’t blame Tim anymore and this family was important to him no matter how dysfunctional their ragtag group was. Quickly he pushed that voice down because it was too late now and their driver was stopping the car outside the venue and there would be other chances to make sure Tim knew and he would definitely take advantage of those ones and surely Tim knew he viewed him as his little brother and not just some kid he was obligated to spend time with right? He must do?


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who read the first chapter. Please leave a comment with any thoughts you have because I'd love to hear them and if it's to do with the writing i'm always up for trying to improve it

The second the two of them emerged from the car, Tim first, Jason started to feel overwhelmed. The slam of the door behind him had him desperately burying down a flinch, there was no way out of this now. Their arrival had not gone unnoticed, though Queen Consolidated were hosts him and Tim were not exactly unknown figures in Star City and the appearance of not one but two of Bruce Wayne’s sons was not something likely to be overlooked. With a quick squeeze of his elbow, Tim shot him an apologetic look before letting himself be swept towards the nearest reporter prepped to direct any and all interviews in the directions of the new deal between Queen and Wayne’s companies and away from his personal life. Jason wasn’t quite as lucky. He took a deep breath and the general buzz of constant noise began to separate itself out into various shouts of, ‘Mr Todd over hear’, ‘Jason give us a picture’, ‘Mr Todd-Wayne, no date for tonight?’ This was going to kill him if he didn’t get inside soon. Throwing away the idea of managing to talk to anyone before entering he began to make his way up towards the main building, ignoring all the shouts and camera flashes aimed in his direction. He’d only made it half way to the entrance when the entire crowd fell silent for a second before a huge surge of noise and movement lead to the reporters near the front being practically shoved over by those behind them in their efforts to reach the most recent car to pull up. Letting curiosity get the better of him, Jason turned around and proceeded to nearly fall back down the few steps he’d just climbed because stepping out of the sleek black Bentley was Roy fucking Harper in the sharpest navy suit Jason had ever seen and his hair was down and Jason was 100% not prepared to have another conversation with this man when he looked like that because his brain was not going to be able to work at a speed anywhere near that of the level of conversation he wanted to have.

‘Okayyy, Earth to Jason? Anyone in there? You coming back to me yet?’

Jason jerked a bit when Tim, who’d appeared at his side, touched his shoulder and lightly pulled him back to real time, he glanced down at Tim in acknowledgement before flipping his gaze straight back to where Roy and Oliver were standing for the group of photographers Jason had just made an effort to avoid altogether.

‘Yeah Jay, you might want to stop gaping at Oliver Queen’s son like a goldfish before anyone notices and starts snapping pics. That is, more than the pic I already took before I came over here because you know Dick’s gonna want to know how badly you clearly have it for Harper.’

Jason snapped his mouth shut on reflex at Tim’s words but instead of indulging his brother with a retort he instead started using his larger frame to attempt to shepherd them both inside. Tim swiftly sidestepped him with a grin, ‘Not so fast, I’ve got to wait for Oliver to get all the way up here because we’ve got to stand for pictures together seeing as the whole reason for this little thing,’ he gestured vaguely at the ornate building the behind them and the crowd (which in Jason’s opinion was anything but little), ‘is to celebrate the proper collaboration between our two families companies.’ As he finished talking Tim’s eyes flicked over Jason’s shoulder and he started grinning in a way that scared Jason slightly. Before he had a chance to turn around himself, a heavy hand landed on his shoulder and started to spin him.

‘Jaybird! Why didn’t you tell me you were gonna be here?’ The smile on Roy’s face reached his eyes in a way the picture grin he’d seen before hadn’t, it made a warm glow fill Jason’s chest as he smiled back. 

‘Didn’t know you were coming too,’ he replied reaching up the rub along the back of his neck before catching himself and aborting the anxious reflex, telling himself it wasn’t necessary because it’s not like Roy was actually mad at him for not telling him.

‘Well better surprise right?’ Roy’s smile somehow managed to widen before his voice dropped in volume a little in a way that made Jason feel as though he was the only person that was supposed to hear, ‘this is actually my first one I’ve attended since I was a lot younger, hence why everyone went crazy when we arrived. Oliver,’ he glared a bit over at where the older man was standing with Tim as they shook hands for the cameras, ‘neglected to tell me just how well advertised this thing was. “low-key company function” my ass.’ He rolled his eyes dramatically.

Jason felt himself relaxing which pleasantly surprised him, somehow something about Roy’s presence was making the harsh lights and noise of the crowds bearable, not okay but manageable. ‘Yeah well I’m alright with that because you took any and all attention away from me, and that’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make,’ he crossed his arms with mock finality.

Roy clutched a hand to his heart dramatically, ‘but I’m too young and pretty to be thrown to the wolves.’

‘Pretty might be right but I’d still rather you than me.’ Before he could fully process the fact that he’d just called Roy pretty to his face and how had that even come out of his mouth, what was going on brain-to-mouth filter? Oliver and Tim appeared next to them. Jason immediately flushed with embarrassment because Tim was smirking widely at him which definitely signified that he’d heard exactly what Jason had just said and if he’d heard it then that means Oliver Queen had just heard too. The older man cleared his throat slightly before smiling tightly at Jason and extending a hand towards him.

‘It’s nice to see you again Jason, it’s certainly been a while.’ 

Jason took his hand and made sure to shake it firmly, Oliver had always intimidated him slightly when he’d been young; the way he liked to act larger than life when in the public eye in a way that was similar to Bruce but not as refined had unsettled younger Jason, not to mention the several off hand but distasteful comments he’d made to Bruce over the years regarding Jason’s childhood before he became a Wayne, ‘You too, Mr Queen. I was glad to hear your company is still doing well after the events of last year,’ Jason kept his tone even but slightly on the pleasant side, the jab at the end referring to the fact that a core member of the QC board of directors had been taken down heavily for tax fraud leaving the company to struggle desperately to regain its footing and Oliver’s fortune hanging in the balance was a risk that definitely paid off when Jason saw Roy’s eyes gleaming with mirth and Tim snorting in a stifled reaction. 

‘It’s Oliver, please. Any son of Bruce Wayne is an equal in my eyes.’ Oliver gritted his teeth as they released each other’s hands and Jason tried not to let the satisfied smirk stretch too widely on his face. He didn’t care that Dick claimed Oliver was more like Bruce than either of them liked to admit in the way that his playboy persona was more fake than real and he would never really say those things about Jason and mean it. To Jason that didn’t really make sense because no one had made Oliver say those things so why would him pretending to be more drunk than he was make a difference to that? But now he wasn’t going to let himself be intimidated by this man.

‘Hey Jaybird why don’t we go inside now? I’m kind of getting tired of the noise out here…’ When Jason didn’t move immediately Roy proceeded to grab his hand and practically drag him out of his head and back into the world. The ballroom they entered together was huge with a high ceiling and ornate marble pillars in each corner, Jason had never really gotten used to the fact that he was actually welcome in a place like this, he’d never really belonged among the upper class. 

Before him or Roy could even get a word in a skinny dark haired man in a black suit stepped up to Roy, ignoring Jason completely, ‘Hi Mr Harper? I’m Jon Mitchell with the Daily Star, I was hoping to be able to have a chat with you before things got too busy in here.’ 

Roy looked up at Jason apologetically, ‘I’m sorry Jay but I knew I was going to have to do something of these tonight after showing up unannounced and I’d really like to get them over with sooner rather than later. I promise I’ll come find you the moment I’m done.’ He really did look genuinely sorry.

‘It’s alright, I’m a big boy I can handle myself for a bit,’ he reluctantly realised himself from where their hands were stilled interlocked, ‘go talk to your fans, I’m sure they’re anxious to hear what you have to say.’ The smile felt just not forced enough to probably be believable and he saw Roy grin back before Jason turned and walked off, the reporter immediately guiding Roy off to one side of the room with his handheld recorder already out.  
\---

Jason grabbed a champagne flute off the first waiter he passed and made a beeline for the closest wall so he could lean against it and watch people come in. Women in expensive dresses holding onto the arms of men in even more expensive suits; journalists and photographers easily singled out by their cheaper looking wear (he even spotted a poor man who hadn’t noticed the rental tag visibly poking out of his sleeve); kids, that mostly looked bored out of their minds, were being leashed to their parents by hands wrapped around their wrists and teenagers who upon entering immediately ducked away from their parents in search of either their friends, a drink or a hidden corner to ride the evening out with their phones until they could go home. No matter what city you were in, these events were always the same. 

Taking a sip from his drink, Jason smirked as he spotted Tim talking to that reporter’s son he’d so hoped was going to be there. He pulled out his phone and snapped a picture when his baby brother leaned across to whisper something in the other boy’s ear. Huffing a laugh when the taller boy’s cheeks turned pink at either the close proximity or whatever Tim had said, he sent the photo straight to Dick followed by the message: ‘you wouldn’t believe the things he gets up to when you aren’t around’. Dick immediately sent back a string of emojis that was mostly made up from every face that could possible signify shock. So clearly Tim hadn’t told Big Bird about the handsome boy he’d met a few months ago, at a Wayne event no less, oh he could not wait to see the fall out of that one when they got back to Gotham because he knew Dick would never be able to resist bringing it up and hopefully it would even be in front of Damian, or better yet Bruce.

‘What’s got you looking so smug? Should I be worried?’ 

Jason looked up to see Roy standing just in front of him, standing on his tip toes in an attempt to see over the top of Jason’s phone and get a peek at whatever he was looking at. Jason couldn’t help smiling to himself a little over the fact that Roy had kept his promise and actually come to find Jason rather than just disappearing into the crowd.

‘Oh you know, just throwing Tim in it by letting Dickface know about his little boyfriend,’ he gestured over Roy’s shoulder to where the younger boys were trying to look subtle as they slowly edged away from the conversation they’d previously been a part of and towards one of the doorways that led to the empty corridors and offices Jason assumed made up the rest of this massive building. 

‘So creating chaos in other words then?’

‘Well what’s the point in being a middle child if you can’t mix things up among your siblings for your own entertainment?’

Roy grinned and shook his head a little, ‘Tim is literally going to kill you when he finds out you told Dickie.’

‘I know right but it’s totally going to be worth it,’ he couldn’t help but laugh a little as he watched his younger brother and his companion reach their goal and slip out of the ballroom reasonably unnoticed, their hands linking together just before the door closed behind them and they fell out of sight. God he was never going to not wish he hadn’t lost the chance to be a normal teenager, he let himself imagine his 16 year old self just being young and sneaking off, maybe even with Roy, to escape the adults and have a short moment of freedom but no, instead all his formative years gave him was a body covered in scars, chronic nightmares and the occasional panic attack. Distantly he registered that Roy was speaking, probably to him but he’d finished before Jason could make out what he was saying.

‘What?’

Rather than sighing irritably (like most people did when Jason spaced out and missed sections of conversation), Roy smiled softly and reached his hand out over the space between them not touching but just in the air, ‘I was just wondering if you’d like to dance with me Jaybird?’

Jason immediately relaxed and took Roy’s hand with his own, his skin tingled at the contact for a moment but he took a deep breath and it settled into being reassuringly grounding rather than confining. Dancing was something he could do. A few months after he’d first been taken in by Bruce, it had been announced that he would have to attend 6 weeks’ worth of weekly dance lessons just until he could manage the simplest steps smoothly and without tripping over his own or his partner’s legs. Naturally, Jason had kicked up a world of fuss because no way was he going to be the kind of kid who had ballroom dancing lessons. He hadn’t relented until Bruce had come and sat outside his bedroom door, Jason had barricaded himself inside in protest, and told him the story of Dick’s first gala and how he’d been asked by one of Bruce’s friends if he wished to dance. Of course the bouncy 9 year old had immediately accepted despite the fact that he had never danced formally in his life and wrongly assumed he’d be able to get away with it by using the grace from his trapeze days. Dick had then continued to: step on his partners dress and rip it all the way up her leg, stumble backwards into a gentlemen and spill his drink over both his own suit and that of the lady he’d been talking to and finally he’d tripped over his own feet and landed on the floor underneath Bruce himself, grinning up at his new father in amusement. Bruce had had to send Dick off to Alfred to get the sticky Champagne spills off of him and spent the rest of the night trying to keep a serious face on as he apologised to the affected guests. Jason had laughed until he cried when Bruce gotten to the part where the wife of the man in the ruined suit had swatted him with her handbag until he offered to buy the man not one but three new suits to make up for the loss and finally agreed to willingly go to the dance lessons, but only for the 6 allotted weeks. However, shocking the entire household, he’d found himself falling in love with the flow and intricacies of the dancing and ended up attending classes at least once every two weeks right up until his teenage years.

So placing his hand on Roy’s shoulder and allowing a hand to be placed on his waist in return felt entirely natural even all these years later. As they began to move, Roy leading, Jason found himself relaxing further and letting the flow of the movement wash over him. He smiled at the way Roy seemed to be confident in his movements but his concern over getting the steps right was given away by the slight crease in his brow as he kept an eye over Jason’s shoulder to ensure they didn’t back into anyone. As cute as the little crease was it mostly just made Jason want to reach across the space between them and smooth the worry away from the other man’s brow.

Unfortunately, the peace only lasted for a couple of songs. The moment they took half a step away from each other they were descended on my a group of Queen’s friends who ‘just had to talk to Roy’ and catch up on what he was doing because ‘he’d grown so much’ and ‘it’s just been so long’, Jason also found himself roped into the conversation when they were joined by someone who he really didn’t recognise but apparently spent a lot of time in Gotham, knew Bruce and had met Jason himself on multiple occasions. The small talk was stifling and Jason couldn’t stand the looks he was given when he confessed he wasn’t all that caught up on current events in his father’s company and it was almost worse when the group (aside from Roy) looked blatantly surprised when he began contributing his opinions as the conversation turned to literature. He had to dig his nails into the palm of his hand in order to avoid throwing punches when the woman next to him placed a soft hand on his shoulder and said painfully kindly, ‘That’s a very interesting idea dear, I’m just not sure that’s what the writer really wanted his intended audience to take away from it but we are all entitled to our own interpretations.’

He definitely needed to take a moment. Making his excuses and dismissing the concerned look Roy shot him, he headed out of a side door and stepped into the first office he came across. He took a deep breath and leaned his forehead against the cool surface of the closed door, shutting his eyes. The sounds from the main room were barely a whisper and fuck it was nice to be away from the bright lights. Maybe there was a window in here and he could sneak a smoke? Just as he was turning around he clocked the fact that not all sound was coming from the outside the office. 

‘…Heeey Jay…so…have you met Kon?’

Jason looked at the scene in front of him for a long moment. Tim sat up on the office’s large desk, his suit jacket discarded and no doubt forgotten about and his dress shirt unbutton exposing his torso. The other boy, Kon he assumed, was standing between Tim’s legs with his hands on Tim’s waist, underneath the fluttering fabric of his open shirt. Both boys looked incredibly rumpled and there was no way for Jason to pretend he’d just walked in on his little brother doing anything other than the obvious. God he needed that smoke.

‘I need a smoke,’ he stalked straight past the pair and yanked open the window whilst pulling his cigarettes and lighter from his jacket pocket. He took a long drag before finally turning back around the face into the room. Tim was in the process of hazardously re-buttoning his shirt whilst Kon hadn’t moved at all. His eyes were still fixed on Jason and honestly the other boy looked terrified out of his mind.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In which Kon is scared and Jason opens up to Roy a little.

‘Jesus Christ, chill out kid I’m not gonna hurt you,’ he paused and tapping the ash at the end of his cigarette on the ledge of the window said, ‘that being said I do own several guns and if you hurt my little brother, well let’s just say I’m very good at hunting people down.’

Tim, now fully dressed minus his suit jacket, with his tie hanging loose around his neck hopped of the desk and clicked his fingers in front of Kon’s sheet white face. His eyes flicked up to Tim and then down to where the smaller boy had started to button up his navy blue dress shirt with only vague comprehension.

‘Is your brother always this scary?’ His voice was barely louder than an indistinct mumble but Jason heard and snorted without looking away from the window.

‘That’s good, I thought he’d broken you for a second and don’t worry about Jay, you’re lucky it wasn’t my littlest brother, he probably would have tried to run you through with his sword, Jason here’s a big softy on the inside,’ he ignored Jason’s glare from the other side of the room, ‘why do you think he’s here if not to hide away from the people out there?’  
Jason huffed and frowned at the floor, ‘I’m not hiding.’

‘Sure you aren’t Jay. Though next time you find yourself ‘not hiding’ think you could actually check the rooms you go into aren’t occupied because some of us like to enjoy their time without Bruce looking over their shoulder?’

‘And not protect your virtue? Not likely baby bird. Though if you didn’t want to risk mentally scaring your brother maybe consider waiting a little longer than the first empty room you come across?’

Both boys looked at the ground a little sheepishly as Jason smugly leaned out the window and took another long drag of his smoke.

‘You smoke Kon?’

‘No.’

‘Good. Drink?’

‘I’m too young.’

‘Right answer but I’d prefer it if you didn’t lie to me, guns remember? Were you planning on fucking my brother for the first time on a desk in a random building while Star City’s elite are one room over?’

‘Err-‘

‘Jason!’

‘Just looking out for you Timbers.’

‘Okay now this is not the scene I expected to walk in on.’

All three boys turned around to see Roy closing the door quietly behind him as he joined them, ‘I do hope you aren’t grilling the kid too hard Jaybird, he looks like he’s about to run all the way back to Metropolis with Tim slung over his shoulder.’ 

Tim raised an eyebrow in Jason’s direction at the nickname but was completely ignored. Jason silently cursed Roy because there was no way Tim was going to forget that little bit of information anytime soon and there was no way he would hesitate to bring it up – probably in an effort to deflect conversation away from whatever was happening between him and this Kon kid. Tim himself slid a hand into Kon’s and took advantage of Roy’s unexpected appearance to let both of them escape to continue with god knows what. Jason really didn’t want to think about it.

‘I’ll call you later Jay so you know where to pick me up from,’ he shot over his shoulder just before Roy shut the door behind them.

Jason turned back to the window and took a final drag on his cigarette, holding the palm of his hand over the little circle of heat for a moment, just far away enough that it wouldn’t burn, before tossing what was left outside onto the concrete floor below. Roy came over and lent against the wall next to him, following his gaze out of the window. The small square to outdoors wasn’t anything special but it was enough that he could feel the slight breeze play across his face as he looked up. There were no stars because the area was far too polluted but the sky was still a beautiful midnight blue infused with grey that reminded him of the sky he used to look up at from the streets of Gotham as he curled up in his favourite ratty hoodie imagining what it would be like to be one of the kids in the families he saw out during the day who went back to warm beds at night, about getting out of crime alley and having that for himself one day. Like he was ever gonna have a chance at that, who would want a white picket fence with someone like him?

‘What’re you doing here Harper?’ Jason’s voice was surprisingly steady despite the sudden direction his thoughts had taken.

Roy looked at him with those eyes full of emotions that Jason couldn’t even begin to decipher, his hair had come out of its neat placing from earlier in the evening, the parting flipping all over the place. Good, Jason thought, he looked like the Roy he’d met in that bar again. That man had felt more like the real Roy than the Star City socialite who’d appeared for the public after 7:30pm.

‘I wanted to check that you were okay Jay, you looked a little unsteady when you left earlier so I thought I’d come find you to make sure you were alright.’

Something about that made Jason’s knees feel a worryingly weak and found him sliding to the floor with his back pushed against the wall. It wasn’t really the fact that Roy was asking if he was okay because so many people had asked throughout in his life that at this point the words made him want to punch things. Maybe it was the fact that the sky was already him making him feel melancholic so Roy’s voice holding none of the usual pity was affecting him more than it normally would or maybe it was simply the fact that Roy had actually come and found him to make sure he was okay that hit home. Now it wasn’t like Bruce and the others didn’t care because he knew that they did, it was just that the entire family was full of possibly the most emotionally repressed people Jason had ever met so when Jason had a bad day or a difficult minute or a goddamn tough second they just didn’t know what to do so they’d usually just leave him to it if he stormed out the room. But once, just once it would be nice if someone came after him to ask if he was doing okay. 

‘You know a lot of people hate the fact that you can’t see the stars in the city but I’m so fucking thankful for it because when I was there,’ he paused for a moment but when Roy didn’t ask him where ‘there’ was he continued, ‘the room I was kept in had this hole in the ceiling. It was too high up to reach and probably too small for me to get through even if I could but it was my one way of seeing outside. I used to lie under that stupid hole for hours, barely able to move from the pain or the hunger, gazing blankly at that tiny scrap of sky. Now I don’t know if you know this but in Ethiopia it’s painfully hot all through autumn before it rains almost constantly for months then it’s so so dry for the rest for the year. But at night, at night I could see the stars. Trillions of miles away. I used to lie there and stare at the stars reminding myself over and over that there was still a world out there beyond the four walls of my room and that one day I’d be able to stand in a truly open space and look up and see those same stars but this time I’d be back home with my family and safe from that man and his fucking crowbar.’ He took a long breath before letting out a humourless, scarily detached laugh without looking away from his hands where they rested between his bent knees, ‘you know what happened when I finally did get out? He and his thugs had ditched the warehouse and run. I dragged himself to my feet and stumbled outside for the first time in two and a half years just moments before the entire place went up in smoke. I should have died in that goddamn explosion, I would have willingly ended it all right then but instead I was dragged from the rumble by someone, someone who said they knew Bruce and had been looking for me. They said they would help me heal and teach me what I needed to know before I returned home, they took me to what they called a safe house for the night but when I tried to fall asleep I found I couldn’t even do something that simple because it felt like the walls were closing in and crushing me. So I went up to the roof of for some air. When I finally looked up at the stars I froze before having the most powerful panic attack of my life.’ He squeezed his eyes shut tightly then blinked rapidly, letting a tight smile stretch his face, ‘can you believe that? I finally did the thing that basically stopped me from giving up and I passed out from the panic.’

He couldn’t look at Roy. He’d never told anyone, not even Bruce, that before. Not about how Talia had had to carry him back down to bed, not how she’d held him when he’d woken up thrashing until he finally drained himself enough to pass out again and definitely not how he still had to cover the windows with fabric when he stayed somewhere the sky was clear at night because he couldn’t sleep with the windows closed but he couldn’t leave them uncovered because waking up to find himself looking at stars was still one of his worst triggers. Feeling Roy shift next to him, he wiped the wetness away from his eyes, not caring if he ruined the cuffs of his too expensive shirt.

‘Can I hug you?’ Jason immediately curled further into himself because Roy sounded wrecked. Then the guilt began to flow in because he’d made Roy feel like that and he’d loaded all his problems onto this guy who’d he’d only met this afternoon. It didn’t matter that his brothers knew him, or that something about Roy made Jason want to trust him or even that Roy had asked if he was okay because it’s not like he actually wanted to know. Everyone always asked but nobody ever actually cared about the truth.

‘It’s okay, you don’t hav-‘ 

‘No, no it’s okay. You can.’ And it was okay because Roy had asked and no one ever asked. So many people would throw their arms around him or grab onto his arms but Roy had asked first if he was okay with it. 

Tentatively, Roy wrapped his arm around Jason’s shoulders and Jason let his head be pulled down until it was resting against Roy’s own shoulder which then allowed Roy to rest his head on top of Jason’s. He felt it in a strangely detached way as Roy turned his face into Jason’s hair and just breathed for a moment before he turned it back to resting it side-on.

‘Why the fuck are you still here?’ Jason’s voice was quiet but steady.

‘What’s that supposed to mean Jaybird?’

‘It means,’ his voice sharp because how didn’t Roy get it? ‘You don’t know me, I’m leaving in the morning and I’ve just dumped a chunk of my fucked up life story on you like you’re a goddamn therapist. So why the hell are you sat on the floor with me instead of running for the hills like any sane person would be?’

‘I just figured you might need someone to talk to that you have no obligation to face again in the morning- or ever again- if you don’t want to and also someone who kind of understands what it feels like to think you’ve lost everything you had after you only just got things back together.’

‘But-‘

‘No Jay, please don’t beat yourself up over this. You haven’t burdened me with anything I didn’t ask for and I know enough about the shittiness of the world to understand what I was going to be getting into. I might not have known you in person for very long but Jaybird but I damn well want to get to know you. Now give me your phone.’ 

Jason frowned at the sudden order but reached into his suit pocket anyway and unlocked it before handing it over. When Roy took it in the hand that wasn’t wrapped around Jason but didn’t say anything to indicate what he was doing Jason closed his eyes and turned his face into Roy’s neck. Despite the shower he was sure Roy had taken before coming out, the other boy still smelled like oil and metal and workshop and it struck Jason as smelling so incredibly right that in that moment moving away really did seem impossible. In no time at all Roy was tucking Jason’s phone back away and placing his head back in its previous position. When he spoke Jason could feel the vibrations through his chest, it was… pleasant, ‘You ever need to talk, about anything at all Jaybird, you can ring me okay. Doesn’t matter what time it is, I barely sleep anyway. You need anything you pick that phone up and you don’t hesitate to call me. I don’t care if you want to talk it out or just need someone to ramble so that your mind gets taken away from whatever was bothering you for a moment but I’ll be there if you need me, okay?’

‘Okay,’ Jason answered directly into Roy’s shoulder, his voice muffled but understandable. 

‘Good,’ the ghost of a kiss touched to the top of Jason’s head, so light that a moment later he wasn’t sure if he’d imagined it or not, ‘You aren’t a burden Jay, I swear it.’  
They sat there for a long time, the gathering next door long forgotten. Jason didn’t think he could move even if he wanted to and Roy definitely didn’t seem to be restless. The arm around his shoulders was solid and grounding and he could definitely fall asleep right now if he let himself. He didn’t want to think about having to fly back to Gotham in the morning and leaving Roy behind when they’d only just breached what could have been but he had to go. Even if he hadn’t promised to travel back with Tim, Bruce had organised for them to have the family portrait redone, so that it would include Jason, tomorrow afternoon. Of course Jason had agreed, thinking he was going to be at the manor anyway, since he was with Tim, and he may as well just take out two birds with one stone. How was he supposed to know he’d end up wanting to stay somewhere like Star City just to spend more time with the adoptive son of Oliver fucking Queen?  
\---  
Jason blinked awake and stared blankly at the plain white of the hotel room wall. His trip back last night was rather hazy but he vaguely remembered Roy pulling him to his feet in that little office, he’d been ready to collapse from exhaustion by then, and leading him by the hand out a backdoor to towards a gorgeous black and red motorbike. ‘I was planning on sneaking out the back at some point,’ Roy had answered before Jason even had a chance to ask. He distinctly recalled the feeling of wrapping his arms around Roy’s waist and of pushing his face into his muscular back as the wind whipped through his hair and weaved it with Roy’s loose waves as they blew out behind him. Then there was the two of them in the hotel room and Roy helping Jason out of his boots and jacket, they were stood in the doorway and Jason really wanted to know what it would feel like to kiss Roy right then but instead he settled for a quick hug and a promise to talk on the phone until one of them could get out to visit the other soon..

Jason let himself have that moment in the haze of not fully awake and not fully asleep to hug his pillow to him and smile where no one could see. It wasn’t like he expected Roy to want to actually keep in touch but yesterday had been nice while it lasted, and even though he hadn’t know it, exactly what he needed. 

With a grunt he dragged himself back into the real world and grabbed his phone off the bedside table, he unplugged it from the charger before rolling straight back over in his previous position only this time with a single arm poking out from the warmth of the duvet so he could see the screen. It was already light outside and Jason could feel how hot the day was going to be form the warmth coming in through the large window across the room, so the glare from the phone wasn’t too blinding when he switched it on.  
There were two missed calls from Dick followed by a text that told him that he didn’t have to worry about a taxi from the airport because he was coming in from Bludhaven later than expected and so would be able to pick them up from the airport on his way past. Joy. Under that was a text from Tim that had been sent at 4:30am with only the address for a hotel and ‘out front at 9am’ under it. Jason googled the hotel and signed when he saw it was right in the center of town and with morning traffic it was going to take him at least 30 minutes to get there, and SHIT it was already 8:15. Hauling himself out of bed, Jason threw the few bits he’d taken out of his bag back in, jogged to the bathroom to try and at least look a little like he hadn’t just run through a bush and then let out a long string of curses when he saw the complete mess Tim’s adjoining room had been left in for Jason to pack up on his own.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like Jason is able to admit things to Roy because in his head, after leaving Star, chances are he won't see Roy again or at least he won't for a long time, i usually find that it can be a lot easier to talk to people when you have that kind of mindset around them, even if that person is little more than a kind stranger willing to listen.
> 
> Next chapter: Batfam, but first knowing what you think of this part means a lot because otherwise i have no idea how this thing is going so far so leave me a comment down below if you can.


	4. Chapter 4

The taxi pulled up in front of the hotel and Jason leaned over the empty seat so he could push the door open for Tim. He grinned as his younger brother, wearing a t-shirt that was far too large to belong to him with last night’s slacks, slid into the car but rather than saying anything he just pushed one of the coffees he’d picked up on the way into the waiting hand. 

‘You have a good night Timbers?’

‘Fuck off Jason.’ 

Well okay then, Jason watched as Tim then proceeded to down the entire coffee in his hands in one go, grab Jason’s own coffee and downing that- grimacing when he tasted the high sugar level- before he finally lent back in his seat and ignored Jason’s glare as he handed back the now empty coffee cup and grinned dreamily, ‘I think he might be the best thing that’s ever happened to me.’

‘Gross.’

‘And he lives in Metropolis so it’s super easy to visit and we swapped numbers and he’s just so sweet and smart and we talked for hours and-‘

‘Yeah too much information, remember who you’re talking to here. Save the mushy shit for Golden Boy,’ Jason stared forlornly at the dredges left at the bottom of his drained coffee, deeply regretting not managing to save it from its premature demise. 

Waking up a little as the caffeine began to kick in, Tim nudged him with his elbow and cocked an eyebrow, ‘what about you then Jay? What did you and Roy Harper get up to after we left you all alone last night?’

Jason rolled his eyes and pushed the arm away, ‘nothing you little shit, we just talked for a bit before deciding to ditch the party so he drove me back to the hotel and that’s it. It was nothing, we probably won’t see each other again anyway.’

Tim shot him an odd look but thankfully didn’t voice any thoughts he was having and just frowned at Jason before leaning his head against the window and looking outside for the rest of the journey, leaving Jason to plug in his headphones and block out the world for a while.

\---  
Thankfully no one on the plane or at the airport recognised them as Wayne’s, Jason really didn’t feel like smiling along if anyone were to approach them and from the sunglasses and baseball cap Tim was sporting he wouldn’t exactly be giving them a warm welcome either. Sometimes he really wished he had never given Bruce permission to legally resurrect him and subsequently cause his face to be printed everywhere for god knows how long. 

As the two of them shuffled through into arrivals, Tim with his suitcase and Jason with only a backpack slung over his shoulder, they only had to spend a moment looking around before they were ambushed from behind and swept into a vice like grip. 

‘Can’t—Breathe!’

‘Dickhead get the hell off!’

After a moment of struggling, both of them gave in and buckled down to just wait Dick out until he let go on his own. When he finally did Jason made a point of manoeuvring himself to place the suitcase between him and his older brother and sacrificing Tim to any remaining touching because if Dick thought his hands were getting within touching distance of Jason’s hair, he was gonna end up with a broken arm.

‘Aren’t I allowed to miss you guys? It feels like forever since I had enough time off to get out of the Blud and over to Gotham, plus I’m excited for the whole family to be in one place at the same time for once!’

Something in Jason’s chest suddenly felt warm when Dick referred to him as part of the family. It’s not like he hadn’t heard it a million times since he’d come back into the fold, hell his name was legally Jason Todd-Wayne now, but there was still something special about hearing it from the boy he’d been secretly looking up to since he was 12.  
‘Yeah sure, family. More like Bruce just wants a picture with us all in so he can prove he’s a good parent who keeps track of all his kids.’

Well it’s not like he’d ever tell Dick how much he appreciated Bruce for redoing it just so Jason would be in it to, is it?

Dick picked up Tim’s suitcase in one hand and used to other to reach up and attempt to cuff Jason across the head retracting his hand at lightning speed when Jason swung for it, ‘now you know that’s not true little wing so don’t go around saying it. Plus no grumbling because Alfred’s even more excited than me to have everyone under one roof even if he’s only showing it in his own way by cooking us up a big dinner,’ he turned and started for the exit, ‘so you too better hurry your asses up because I refuse to get saddled with the leftovers because we were late.’

Jason followed because there was no way he was going to willingly subject himself to Alfrd’s wrath either.  
\---  
The moment they were all situated in Dick’s car, something that Jason was sure would have its tires missing after just a week out on the streets in Bludhaven but somehow didn’t, and they’d pulled out onto the main road, Dick turned to Tim who was sat quietly on his phone in the passenger seat, ‘So Timmy, who’s this Metropolis boy of yours I’ve heard so much about?’

All the blood drained from Tim’s face and he immediately swung around in his seat to glare at Jason, ‘I’m going to murder you,’

‘Now Timbers don’t be like that, how do you know it was me?’

‘Who else would it be?’

‘Well I don’t know.’ 

‘You’re the only one who knows!’

‘And why didn’t you tell me Tim? You know I respect your privacy but you two looked pretty close and I’m your big brother I care about you.’

Tim rolled his eyes and fell back into his seat, ‘Precisely because I knew this would happen, you don’t need to protect me anymore Dick.’

‘But I want to make sure you’re okay and I just want you to know that I don’t care that he’s a boy, you know I’ve had boyfriends myself, and I don’t love you any less, you’re my little brother and I will always be here for you no matter what. This doesn’t change a thing.’

Tim rubbed the back of his neck, his eyes flicking around the inside of the car, ‘thanks Dick, you don’t have to-‘

Jason finally couldn’t hold it in anymore and snorted loudly causing his brothers to turn back and look at him, ‘I’m sorry! I’m sorry! It’s just watching Dick become a walking cliché like that is one of the only real reasons I still hang around with you lot, too good.’

‘Wow Jay, way to ruin the moment,’ Dick rolled his eyes but Tim mostly looked relieved that the tension in the car had been dispersed considerably.

Suddenly Tim’s eyes lit up evilly and he turned to face further into the car, ‘but anyway, I’d much rather talk about what’s going on between Jay back there and Roy Harper.’

‘Shut up Tim before I strangle you!’

‘Jason?!’ Dick sounded scandalised, ‘why didn’t you tell me you and Roy knew each other?’

‘We didn’t,’ Jason ground out through gritted teeth, ‘we met yesterday and it was nothing.’

Tim smiled innocently, ‘oh Jason, I wouldn’t call dancing with him in front of most of Star City’s high society nothing.’

Dick choked on air, ‘Roy let you dance with him? But Roy doesn’t do dancing?’

Just wanting the focus off of this particular grating topic Jason let himself snap a little, ‘What’s the matter Dickie, worried I’ve been chatting up, the one Red Head on Earth you haven’t slept with yet?!’

Dick immediately became very intent on staring down the horizon.

‘You haven’t?’ Now it was Jason’s turn to sound scandalised.

‘We were young okay and I was going through a tough spot and Roy was there! It only happened once…’

‘Jesus Christ you really do have a thing for redheads don’t you?’

‘Okkkay!’ Tim practically leaned out of his seat to get himself even a little bit physically between them, ‘How about we stop talking about the drivers preferences while we aren’t the only ones in the car, usually I would be fine with letting you guys go off on one regardless of crash risk but I’m pretty sure Alfred would kill us all if we interrupted his family dinner by crashing the car so Dick, please just keep your eyes on the road.’

Dick grumbled under his breath but did as he was told and when Jason didn’t react further than huffing in a way that totally wasn’t teenager like, it wasn’t, Tim leaned back satisfied and pulled out his phone again. When Jason saw him smiling down at the screen softly something told him he knew who was on the other end of the line.  
\---  
When Dick pulled through the gates and the manor came into view through the trees Jason was suddenly struck by striking memories of the first time he’d done this journey. He’d been so small back then, growth stunted by malnutrition, the cuffs of his favourite red hoodie clutched tightly in each hand as he stared up at the manor in wonder. He still had that hoodie, although it as far too small for him to wear, sometimes on the particularly rough days he liked to take it out and just look at it to remind him of just how far he’s come. 

That first week had been terrifying, he’d spent days flinching at every sound and movement before throwing up false bravado in desperate defence, he’d been so sure that Bruce as going to do something. Hit him, or throw him back out onto the street, or worse, shows signs of starting to try and groom him. He’d known both girls and boys who had disappeared off the streets to places everyone knew about but no one spoke off, it was pure luck that Jason had avoided that same fate but just the thought of it scared him more than anything. Eventually, Jason had stopped checking behind the doors just to make sure no one there, stopped keeping track of where the other people in the room were and finally started to believe he might actually have a place here with the billionaire orphan who was saying he had plans to formally adopt him, the English butler who was pretty much the closest thing to a grandparent Jason had ever had and even that circus brat who swung by at the weekends to argue with Bruce and steal food off Jason’s plate. There was maybe a slight possibility that Jason was starting to think of their dysfunctional group as something more like a family. Trust his life to make everything go to shit just when the going was finally getting good.

As Dick pulled the car up onto the drive he took a deep breath and pushed those memories away into a box because thinking about how things had been always just made him angry or sad and he was trying out this new thing where he focused on the people here right now rather than on his past because that was the way to make things better. Mainly the people here now consisted of the demon brat who had just exited the front of the house and was making a beeline for Dick as the three of them climbed out the car. He hovered awkwardly for a moment, clearly uncomfortable with initiating the contact, but immediately relaxed when Dick swept him up into a hug. 

‘It really is unacceptable for you to be away for so long Grayson, I refuse to put up with Titus acting so unhappy in your absence.’

‘Aww I missed you too little D!’

Damian immediately began squirming until Dick put him back down, ‘Todd, Drake.’ 

‘Sup Dami,’ Jason earned himself a glare and a near-growl by taking the chance and ruffling the kids spiky hair so he quickly retreated in favour of heading up to the house where he could see Alfred standing in the doorway, Tim was close on his heels, still looking into his phone.

‘Hey Alfie, It’s good to see you,’ so Jason didn’t like to play favourites but if he was going to pick it would definitely be Alfred.

‘Wonderful to have you back with us Master Jason, even if it’s only for a few days,’ Jason laughed to himself as he stepped past Alfred and into the entrance hall, he had missed the way that Alfred was the one person in the family who could ever make him feel guilty about anything, well apart from the girl who was currently hopping down the steps. 

Cass skipped the last three steps in one jump before pulling Jason into a quick tight hug and stepping back with a smile and immediately doing the same to Tim, causing the other to squawk and flail dramatically as he almost dropped his phone, ‘Little brothers,’ she smiled brightly before moving outside most likely to go after Dick. Jason really didn’t have the heart to argue over the whole little thing when she was looking happier and happier every day since Bruce had officially told her he wanted to legally adopt her and that he wouldn’t give up until he won the case. 

Only a moment later Cass was re-entering the house with Damian and Dick in tow, Dick hauling Tim’s suitcase behind him, ‘What the hell do you have in this thing Timmy?’

Before Damian could chip in with what Jason was sure would be a comment caught half way between funny and insulting, as things often were between him and Tim, Jason jumped in with a line that he knew was going to get him killed but was just far too good to pass up, ‘Hey, maybe he’s trying to sneak a certain Metropolis boy up to his room…’

Dick grinned at the joke, Alfred looked amused, Cass curious and Damian like he was about to run the suitcase through with that katana of his, while Tim’s face had gone shocking red, ‘I’m going to kill you,’ 

Yep probably time for Jason to make himself scarce. He made a dash for the staircase with Tim hot on his heels. He made it halfway up but had forgotten about his backpack, without thinking Tim grabbed on the back on the bag and pulled causing Jason to immediately trip and fall backwards putting his full weight into Tim and leaving them both tumbling down the stairs. They came to a stop and Jason groaned loudly as he flopped on his back, his backpack long lost as it rolled across the floor several metres away. Several shadows crossed into his blurry vision but Jason focused on the larger one that was rubbing his forehead with one hand as his gaze flicked between Jason and who he assumed must be Tim lying next to him.

‘You boys really couldn’t have waited at least a day before giving me a headache?’

Jason grinned lazily, ‘Good to see you too B.’

Tim vaguely grunted from beside him.  
\---  
Dinner was surprisingly normal when you consider the fact that Tim was intermittently holding an icepack against his head and Jason had one strapped to his hip, it was wonder neither of them was hurt further than a few impressive bruises. Alfred was making him feel bad though because since the fall Jason’s eye had come up an ugly brown/green/black that they’d just had to hope Dick would be able to cover up with makeup for the photo tomorrow. Though he hadn’t said anything Jason just knew that Alfred clearly disapproved and he just hoped that wasn’t going to lead to a cookie ban that lasted the trip because he needed to stock up the supply in his apartment. He didn’t feel too bad though because just before they’d sat down he had checked his phone to see a new message up on the display.

Roy Harper – 18:56

‘Hope your flight wasn’t too bad, don’t be stranger :)’

Jason texted back a smiley face in return, he wasn’t normally one to use them but seeing the one from Roy had made him smile so he thought he’d return the favour. If anyone noticed the spring in his step despite his bruised hip when he entered the dining room to sit, they didn’t mention it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's going to be a slightly bigger gap between this chapter and the next because i'm not going to be in the same place as my laptop for about a week but there is definitely more coming.  
> Let me know what you think down in the comments and thank you for all the support so far!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have returned with an update! 
> 
> Includes family portraits, Bruce and Jason have a moment and Jayroy texting happens

‘No.’

‘Come on Jay, it’s only until we get the picture done.’

‘Yeah and then it’s going to be preserved forever on the walls of Wayne fucking Manor, so thanks but no thanks,’ Jason picked up the navy v-neck sweater and dangled it at arm's length, ‘I just can’t believe we all have to match whilst Bruce gets to wear an actual suit. How is that fair?’

‘It’s not about it being fair Jay, it’s about tradition.’

Dick was already dressed in the same thing he was trying to get Jason into: white long sleeved shirt, dark brown slacks and the same navy sweater. It was the same thing Bruce had worn when he had had family portraits done with his parents and Jason got that and knew he would eventually end up in it but he had to put up at least a little fight because the sweaters were just so damn ugly. 

Eventually, he relented and pulled the thing over his head which he instantly regretted because the moment after Dick hauled him into a chair facing the mirror and shoved product covered hands into his hair.

‘How on earth do you get this mop to behave Little Wing?’

‘I don’t,’ he wrenched his head away when he saw Dick reach across the table for a comb because that definitely was not going to happen, ‘it’s fine Dick, just leave it and get on with the damn thing that i came over here for you to do.’

Jason tried not to flinch away too much as Dick covered up the purpling bruise around his eye. Dick frowned as he finished up, ‘sorry for that Jay.’

Jason smirked as he stood up, ‘chill out Dickie, it’s not like i haven’t had worse.’

He grinned darkly as Dick sighed and immediately looked uncomfortable, squirming as he tried to come up with something to say in return, Jason really did live for the small things in life. He even, almost successfully, ignored the voice that pointed out how refreshing it had been when Roy had reacted completely naturally to comments about his abduction and there had been none of the awkwardness he was so used to. Luckily Dick was saved by Alfred stepping through the door, ‘If you are quite done making ill tempered jokes regarding your past at the expense of Master Dick, Master Jason, perhaps the two of you would be so kind as the join the rest of the family in the drawing room?’

Without waiting for an answer Alfred walked back out the door, leaving the two boys little option but to follow behind. Though that’s not to say that Jason resisted the urge to spend the entire walk stepping on the back of Dick’s shoes, because he really didn’t.  
\---  
When they reached the drawing room Jason couldn’t help but warm a little at what awaited him, this was his family. His family. He wondered what the little boy huddled under the kitchen table with his hands clamped over his ears just hoping tonight would be one of the nights his dad would storm out the front door instead of one where he dragged Jason out as a way to expel his anger, or the teenager lying on his back begging an unknown power that tomorrow the crowbar would be successful in shoving a rib into his lung because he just wanted it to end, would think is they could see him now with an actual god damn family. Cass, dressed in a plain but smart navy dress, was helping Tim straighten out his sweater whilst he attempted to reach around her to mess up Damian’s hair. Dick had walked into the room and swept Damian up and away from Tim, only to immediately put him down again when Damian complained about his hair being ruined and dropping to one knee so he could give him some help fixing it. Alfred was fussing over making sure the grand chair was dusted off and straight in the eye of the camera, all the while shooting discreet glances over at his charges, probably to make sure Tim and Damian hadn’t managed to murder each other yet. Yeah, Jason could definitely get used to this.

‘I’m glad we’re doing this,’ Jason pulled himself back into his own head and turned around to see Bruce standing at his shoulder having just come through the doorway. Unlike the boys, Bruce was dressed in a navy three piece suit with the jacket shrugged off and slung over his arm, when he saw Jason had acknowledged him he placed a solid hand down on his shoulder and squeezed lightly, ‘I know we don’t always get on and I won’t say that we will ever stop fighting, but you’ve always been a part of this family Jay, this is just making it even more official.’

Even though they’d already been over this a thousand times Jason had too look away from the unusually ernest edge to Bruce’s eyes, like he really needed Jason to understand what he was saying. He focused on the floor instead, there was an old stain just next to his foot.

When he spoke he was glad his voice wasn’t as shaky as he expected, ‘I know Dad,’ he remembered where the stain was from now. His first night at the manor Alfred had handed him a hot chocolate and guided him to the door of this drawing room. He had stood frozen in the doorway for so long with no idea what a street rat like him was meant to do with all of this kindness and luxury when Bruce had entered the room, much like he had tonight, when Jason noticed his imposing figure he had flinched so hard he’d dropped the drink all over the floor. Upon seeing the mess he’d dashed out the room and barricaded himself in the attic for the next 5 hours until Bruce and Alfred had managed to convince him they wouldn’t hurt him if he came out, by the time they’d all gotten back downstairs the chocolate had stained the carpet too thoroughly for Alfred to be able to get it out, even with all his tricks. Something about the fact that they’d never replaced the carpet and gotten rid of the stain suddenly left Jason blinking back tears, ‘I didn’t but i think i’m starting to.’

When he looked up he was surprised to see that Bruce had been looking down at the barely noticeable stain as well and had a small smile on his face. Jason was thankful he didn’t say anything right away because Jason wasn’t sure his voice would be quite so steady when he replied this time, instead Bruce just ran one palm from his forehead and back through his hair and used the other the squeeze his shoulder again, ‘you’ve been my son ever since that night I caught you trying to steal the tires off my car and then proceeded to try and hit me with the tire iron instead of running like any normal kid would when they saw they were trying to steal from Bruce Wayne. Don’t you ever let yourself forget that. Now come on lad, if we don’t get over there now Alfred will be the one running us through with rusty pieces of metal.’

Jason swallowed the lump in his throat down and shot Bruce a lopsided grin, ‘come on old man, best you sit down before your knees give out,’ he ducked out the way when Bruce made a swing to try and grab onto the back of his collar the way he used to when Jason was small enough the be picked up that way. 

As he went over to see if he could stir something up between Tim and Damian he overheard Dick making his way across to Bruce and asking if everything was okay, he had to physically restrain himself from grinning any wider when Bruce replied with ‘you know what Dick? Right now i think everything is just fine.’ He instead settled for turning his watch around his wrist a few times to just make sure that yes, this was definitely happening.  
\---  
When they were finally all settled for the picture, as the tallest, Jason found himself standing directly behind the back corner of Bruce’s chair with Dick to his left behind the back of the chair. Cass to Dick’s left, Tim to Jason’s right and Damian in front of him. All the kids had attempted at one point or another to persuade Alfred to join the picture but the old butler had simply insisted that there would be other days and ones such as these were for formalities, which Jason thought was utter bullshit because Alfred was the closest thing to a grandfather he was pretty sure any of them had ever had but they eventually gave up because they all knew there was no way they’d actually be able to persuade Alfred to do something he was against.

They stood there for so long that Jason ended up losing feeling in one of his feet as the photographer Bruce had hired adjusted them all until he was happy. He almost snorted when the poor guy attempted to get Damian to let Tim put his hand on his shoulder, an idea that was immediately scratched when the second the guy turned his back Damian turned his head and bit Tim before smiling smugly at the resulting screech and the fact that Bruce glared at them both until Tim had to give up on attempting to retaliate.   
\---  
When the photo was finally done with and they were all excused Jason promptly disappeared back up to the random room he’d chucked his bag into the day before to change into a pair of sweats and a tee before collapsing down onto the bed and tugging his phone off of the bedside table. He liked to stay in a random room when he was at the manor because first of all there was no way he’d get through a night in his childhood room without screaming himself awake and also it was incredibly helpful that whenever anyone came looking for him (apart from Alfred who always knew) they could never find him if he didn’t want them to. 

He turned on the screen and rolled onto his back so he could get both hands on the phone when he saw messages from Roy.

Roy Harper - 12:47

Hope no one gets murdered at your portrait today, i can’t imagine having to survive in a room where Tim and Damian are made to stand within ten feet of each other for that long

Roy Harper - 13:12

Lmao Dick just texted me a description of what you all have to wear now that is a picture i have to see at some point Jaybird

Jason smiled and texted back.

14:29

I’m just surprised Damian didn’t try and convince Bruce to let him include that animal pack of his, or let him wear his katana on his hip so he could subtly poke Tim with it the whole time.

He went to flick to a different app but to his surprise Roy texted back almost straight away.

Roy Harper 14:31

Not gonna lie i would have paid good money to see that

14:32

Not quite the same but managed to get this one. He ruffled Damian’s hair after we were finished:

He attached a picture he’d taken before he’d left the room earlier of Tim crouched on top of a bookcase looking bored whilst Bruce and Dick both tried to hold Damian back from jumping up after him. Cass was stood in the back looking directly into the camera.

Roy Harper 14:33

Good enough. God your family is weird.

14:33

Alfred’s a british soldier turned butler, Bruce and Tim are both so rich they don’t know how much a loaf of bread costs, Dick grew up in a literal circus, I’m an actual street rat, Cass’ dad didn’t teach her to speak and Damian’s mum taught him how to fight with an actual katana before he turned 5. What did you expect..?

Roy 14:35

Yeah I really shouldn’t be surprised at this point

14:36

You should see the christmases at this place i swear

Roy 14:36

Omg i bet it’s a complete madhouse

14:37

More like a zoo

14:37

You should have seen Wally’s face the first time he was around the manor during family dinner when we were all there, i’ve never seen the guy look so terrified

They talked on and on and on and on so by the time a message from Dick popped up telling him to come down for dinner it felt like an entire weight had been lifted on his chest. Sending a quick explanation/ goodbye text to Roy he threw his phone back down onto his bed and pulled on a hoodie before heading downstairs whilst trying to school his face into something like his usual look in an attempt to avoid any poking questions.

Only when he got downstairs their usual dining room was empty, so he wondered through to the kitchen only to find Alfred in there alone, still preparing dinner. He turned around with a frown when Jason made the door creak,

‘I do hope you aren’t trying to sneak food out Master Jason, dinner will be ready within the hour.’

‘But Dick…?’

‘I’m afraid i haven’t seen Master Dick since this afternoon, Master Tim neither. Are you okay Master Jason you’ve gone quite pale?’

‘Yeah Alfie, I’m all good. I’ve just got to-’

He fled out the door and immediately sprinted for his room. He was always so careful that no one knew which one he was in, please say this was all just some stupid joke by Dick and he was going to get to the room and everything would be as he left it. But no, Jason had never been that lucky. He ran straight into the door when he tried to open it, banging his nose before he began pounding mercilessly on the wood and mentally cursing stupid Wayne manor and its stupid unbreakable doors. 

‘Dick you fucker, you stay away from my shit.’

The other side of the door was suspiciously quiet until a moment passed and Dick’s voice came through from almost right on the other side, ‘Little wing you totally ruined this because I was all ready to come in here and make fun of whatever you’d been doing all afternoon but this shit is just too damn cute that there is no way I can make fun of it without sounding like a real asshole.’  
Jason could faintly hear the recognisable sound of Tim trying not to laugh through the woodwork, ‘oh yeah Jay, you and Roy are such saps. You are never allowed to make fun of me and Kon ever again.’

‘I don’t like him like that,’ even to Jason the line sounded flimsy, did he like Roy the way Tim liked Kon? Didn’t matter anyway because no way would Roy feel the same so much more effective to just not examine that thought too closely. 

‘Denial isn’t healthy Little Wing.’

Denial was all Jason had. The lock on the door clicked open and Jason shoved his way in and grabbed his phone out of Dick’s hand, seeing them both in the room he’d been using, Tim was even on his damn bed, made the anger resurface. They knew he hated it when people touched his stuff. 

‘Get the fuck out.’

‘But Jay-’

‘You heard me Dickhead, get the fuck out.’

Dick and Tim reluctantly slinked out the room and Jason kind of regretted snapping because they were just mucking around but no, going through Jason’s stuff wasn’t funny and throwing them out was just reasonable. He turned his watch around his wrist a few times to deflect the thought of him going after the two to start throwing punches and instead channeled the energy into throwing the few things he had out back into his bag. Damn Alfred was going to be so upset that he’d left before dinner and would probably be all passive aggressive at brunch on Wednesday and Cass would give him that sad-understanding look next time he saw her but he just had to get out. The house had been getting more and more suffocating ever since he’d arrived, he thought he’d be able to make dinner and maybe even one more night but this had just really shot everything forward and he knew that if he had to sit down at dinner with everyone he’d end up starting something. He really didn’t want to start anything, not when things were just getting okay again. Better to leave before anything went wrong. Well more wrong than it already had.

On his way out Bruce appeared in the entrance hall, surprise and a little hurt filled his eyes and he quickly made a move to grab onto Jason’s arm, ‘Hey slow down, what happened Jaylad?’

That same soft tone that had calmed him down so well when he was 13 now made him want to just punch Bruce, ‘Just don’t Bruce. Can you tell Alfie i’m sorry im leaving before dinner?’ He jerked himself out of Bruce’s reach and pushed his way out of the door with a shoulder, cursing himself when he noticed the small drop of blood running down his forearm where the sharp bit of metal on his watch had pushed across his skin one too many times. Why did he always have to fuck these things up? His phone buzzed.

Roy Harper 19:17

So turns out trying to cook eggs in the microwaves makes them explode… 

The message was followed by a photo of Roy grinning like a loon with a microwave in the background that had definitely died. Jason found himself smiling softly down at his phone. Somehow this guy had just managed to make Jason forget about the clusterfuck that was his existence for a goddamn blessed moment. 

He had to be magic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed, drop a comment down below with any thoughts. 
> 
> I've got a basic idea of what the parts of the next chapter are going to look like so hopefully it won't take me that long to get done.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is definitely heavier than previous ones and warnings for violence, as part of a nightmare, at the start. That entire section is in italics and then there is throwing up (not graphically described) just after that. 
> 
> Otherwise hope you enjoy!

A week and a half, one grocery run, brunch with Alfred and visits from one out of three brothers later Jason had a bad day and not the kind where he was running late and spilt coffee on his favourite jacket.

_The crowbar rained down on him mercilessly again and again as he tried desperately to curl up tighter around his middle, his arms wrapped in a crushing grip around his head. This couldn’t be real, he couldn’t be back here again. Had he ever left? The vivid pain that wracked his entire body meant this surely had to be reality and that laugh. It was everywhere, tearing his brain apart from the inside out. The endless deranged cackling that bounced off the walls and threatened to finally drive him completely insane._

_‘So tell me once and for all Jayjay which one hurts more… forehand,’_

_The pain was distant now and a terrifying cold began to seep into the depths of his bones._

_‘Or backhand?’_

_The metal struck his stomach and he rolled with it, not out of an attempt to avoid the pain, but because he really didn’t have the strength to do anything but roll with the motion of the crowbar. His blurry vision fell down onto blood-splattered dress shoes by his head and drifted up to the black slacks over them- no- that wasn’t right. That should be purple? The beginnings of panic began to break through the numbness and into his chest as his gaze trailed upwards over the expensive suit, the rolex wrapped around one wrist and the broad frame. No. No. This wasn’t right, this couldn’t be real, but he couldn’t think of a reason why it wasn’t._

_‘What’s the matter Jaylad?’ Bruce sounded so painfully amused and even through his cracking vision Jason could see he was grinning maniacally like he was him, ‘you not having fun?’_

_Bruce spun the bloodied crowbar through the air, as though he was practicing the arc of his swing, ‘now before we start up again i just want you to know, this going to hurt you a lot more than it hurts me.’_

Jason jerked up in bed with a yell, sweat drenched, his eyes blown wide. He desperately untangled himself from the ruined sheets and stumbled blindly for the bathroom, only reaching it just in time before he collapsed onto his knees and threw last night’s dinner down into the toilet. After his stomach finally relaxed he fell back against the wall behind him and hugged his knees tight to his chest, pushing his head against them as he tried to control the panic in the dark. In, out, in, out. You’re alone. There’s no one here. Nothing’s going to happen. It wasn’t real. It’s over. He repeated the phrases over and over like a mantra until finally his heart wasn’t hammering against his ribs quiet as hard and his breathing began to gradually calm down. Jason had learned very quickly how to pull himself back from a panic attack because when nobody was there to help and passing out in public would lead to hospitals and unwanted legal resurrections, he hadn’t really had much of a choice. Especially not when, every time he felt on edge, that time when he’d still been estranged from the family and Dick had yelled at him that he belonged in Arkham sprung to the forefront of his mind to terrify him into calming himself down.

When he finally felt steadier, Jason slowly began to pull himself up onto his feet. Gripping onto the edge of the sink, and then leaning on the wall equal parts to help him stay upright and to guide him in the dark, he gradually made his way back through his apartment and into his bed. The sheets were wrecked and his shirt was stuck to his back with sweat but the idea of trying to change any of that made him feel like throwing up again so instead he just collapsed back onto his mattress and curled up tightly, his back pushed against the wall, with his hands held firmly over his ears, to block out the eery creaks of the building, Jason focussed on taking deep breaths until eventually he fell back into a fitful slumber.

Upon waking up a second time Jason knew that he had had another nightmare but couldn’t remember any of the details. Just a flash of light bouncing off metal, his vision filled with white like it had been when the explosion knocked him out, that goddamn laughter that haunted his every moment, Jason liked it more when he couldn’t remember the details, it usually meant he didn’t have to make unwanted dashes for the bathroom with his hand clamped over his mouth. When he sat up the ghost of pain that had once been daily wrenched into his thoughts and forced him to lie back down. It wasn’t like he could feel the pain anymore, just that sometimes it got so overwhelming to move without it that it was easier to just not move at all. So Jason pushed his face into the pillow and did his best to ignore the way the room stank of sick, how the sheets had been half thrown off the bed and that he was really going to have to deal with all this sooner rather than later. He let himself drift for just a moment before looking over at the clock and immediately bolting upright because how the hell had it gotten to be 4pm? Shit he must have fallen asleep again or something. Jason gripped his head tightly when the world started to spin from him sitting up so quickly and he swung his arm wildly behind him in an attempt to grab the glass of water he always keep beside his bed which of course resulted in him knocking it off and all over the floor. As Jason looked down at the water all over the floor and the foul sheets next to them it suddenly struck him just how incredibly lonely he was. His entire being longed for the days when if he’d had a nightmare Bruce would be there to wake him up and hold him tightly until he calmed down, or when he threw up and Alfred would clean it up like it was nothing or that one time, a few of months before everything had fallen apart, when he had been sick while Dick was staying at the manor and the older boy had sat in his room with him all day so that they could watch stupid cartoons on a laptop. But look at him now.

Swallowing tightly, Jason resisted the urge to curl back up and slowly moved to sit on the edge of the bed. The idea of showering or changing the sheets right now actually made him want to pass out so the next best option was going to have to be shutting the door on this mess, not something he would ever usually be able to do, and relocating to the couch for the rest of the day. Ignoring the stiffness in his joints, he grabbed his phone off the bedside table and a clean blanket out of the cupboard before stumbling his way to the living room where he collapsed into his favourite spot. He wanted to call someone, badly, just to get out his head even if it was just for a few minutes. Bringing up his contacts he frowned, trying to come up with someone. Bruce wasn’t an option, yeah they’d had a bit of a moment the other day but the big guy was not the kind of person you call up when you just wanted to talk, Jason wasn’t that desperate. Dick was usually an choice and probably the best of their little clan at talking other people through their problems without being too forceful, unfortunately Jason was yet to talk to him after their spat at the manor before and again Jason wasn’t that desperate to be the one to give in first because Dick would act sour until he got an apology if Jason was the one to initiate and there was no way that was happening. Tim he had met up with since but Jason was reluctant to call his little brother because no matter how much better they had been getting on recently he knew Tim had a lot of his own psyche to keep on track so Jason wasn’t going to be the one to load him up with even more things. Cass was also an option, for smaller things and stuff that required listening, but not today because Jason felt weird talking to someone he honestly barely knew beyond movie nights and kitchen conversations when he felt like this. The time he had gone nonverbal at the manor and Cass had walked in the room and instead of being weird about it had simply told him that she’d be happy to teach him some sign language later if he wanted, he’d kind of freaked out and actively avoided her for the next two months, he still felt bad about that. So Cass was a no go. Damian definitely not an option, even if he picked up the phone when Jason called there was no way he was going to a 13 year old kid right now. He could always call Alfred but Jason had always hated bothering him during the day when he didn’t have to because Alfred always had so many things to do and any unwarranted interruptions were unlikely to be taken well. So yeah scrolling through his contacts aimlessly it was.

A few minutes later Jason found himself staring at the contact Roy had put into his phone, his finger hovering over the call button, arguing with himself about whether to hit ring or not. They hadn’t talked on the phone at all since Jason had gotten back to Gotham only texted and so he had no idea what to do because on the one hand Roy had said he could call whenever but on the other hand he probably hadn’t meant it and would be irritated if Jason interrupted whatever he was busy doing. As he stared at the screen, he noticed that Roy’s contact had a photo already added even though Jason didn't remember doing it. Cautiously, recalling the time Dick and Tim had had with his phone, he enlarged the photo but immediately relaxed when he saw it had been taken at the same time Roy had put his number in. The screen was filled with Roy’s grinning face, and Jason could see the top of his own dark hair poking out in the corner, he was smiling wildly in the photo with his tongue stuck out at the camera. Looking into those green eyes Jason was reminded all over again just what Roy had said: you need anything you pick that phone up and you don’t hesitate to call me. With a deep breath he went back to the contact screen and made himself hit the call button. He wouldn’t be mad. He wouldn’t be mad. He wouldn’t be. He wouldn’t.

The phone rang three times before Jason heard the quiet click and Roy’s voice, tinny but distinct, crackled through.

‘Hey Jaybird! You’ve just caught me at the perfect time, I literally just walked out my workshop two minutes ago. How you doing?’

This was such a bad idea. At the carefree tone of Roy’s voice Jason froze up, he was such an idiot, there was no way he could throw all of his dumb problems onto Roy.

‘Roy I-’ His voice broke. How had Jason not noticed the lump that had been growing his his throat?

‘Hey,’ Roy’s voice was softer, ‘Jaybird, what’s going-’ this was such a bad idea, ‘on-’ Jason hung up.

Almost immediately Jason’s phone lit back up in his hand to tell him he had an incoming call from Roy Harper, that stupid photo filled the screen again and loud ringing filled the room. Jason couldn’t move as he stared at those bright green eyes until the ringing stopped and the screen went dark. Straight away it started back up again and Jason flinched away from the sharp sound, only just resisting the urge to throw his phone across the room in retaliation. Actively avoiding looking directly at the photo again, Jason tentatively hit accept and raised the phone to his ear.

‘Hey Jay, you there?’

‘Yeah, Roy I’m, I’m here.’

‘What’s going on in that head of yours then Jaybird?’

‘Nothing, it’s, it’s nothing.’

‘Doesn’t sound like nothing Jay, you wouldn’t have called me and immediately hung up if it was nothing, but it’s alright if you don’t want to talk about it. You know i won’t force it.’

Roy’s voice was soft like Bruce’s had been back when he’d been storming out the manor but this time it didn’t grate on Jason it just worked to calm him down. Deep breaths.

‘It was just a nightmare. Stupid, stupid, nothing I haven’t dealt with before, stupid to be shaken. I don’t, I don’t know why I called you, I’m sorry.’ Jason went to hang up again but Roy’s reply caught him first.

‘Don’t apologise Jay, I told you that you could call me whenever for anything and I meant it. You don’t have to deal with this stuff alone Jaybird.’

Alone. Jason was so goddamn sick of being alone all the time. Sure he liked being on his own but that was different to being alone. He wasn’t like Dick the way the older boy practically gained energy off of human interaction but sometimes he thought about how nice it must be to connect with so many different types of people so quickly and easily.

When Jason didn’t give an answer Roy cautiously continued, ‘I know how tough it can be to be surrounded with empty space after a nightmare so do you want me to call Dick or someone for you so they can-’

‘No, no I’m fine.’

‘Okay, do you want to tell me what happened in the nightmare.’

‘No.’

Jason’s chest contracted tightly when Roy went quiet for a moment longer than he previously had and the silence hung heavy in the thick air of his apartment.

‘How about I tell you about my day Jaybird? I can’t promise it will be too exciting but it might take your mind away from whatever’s haunting it for a while. How’s that sound?’

‘Good. That’d be, that’d be good.’

So Jason curled up and quietly began biting at the skin around his thumb nail as Roy started to talk and tell him everything from what time he’d woken up, to what he’d eaten for breakfast, across to his current project, right up to the present moment. All the while Jason breathed deeply and listened to the steady tones of Roy’s voice, focusing only on what he saying and how he was saying it.

‘So you feeling a bit better now Jaybird?’

‘Yeah I-’ Jason felt kind of sheepish the way he always did around someone after he’d broken down in front of them, ‘thanks Roy. You didn’t need to do that so thanks I guess.’

He heard Roy breath a sigh of relief through the line, ‘anytime Jaybird. You gave me quite the scare there when you hung up. I was a second away from calling in the cavalry on you. Why the hell does Star City have to be so far away from Gotham?’

‘I wish I knew. I’ve got to go now Roy, got my mess of an apartment to clean up before i get neighbours turning up and complaining, thank you though, really.’

‘No problem Jaybird, I really did mean it when I said whenever.’

‘Bye Roy.’

‘Bye Jaybird, Speak soon.’

‘Yeah.’

Jason hung the phone up and chucked it onto the rug below him before pushing his face down into the nearest cushion. He felt so drained. He definitely felt more grounded now, even if he could still feel the edges of desperation threatening to take control again, he was okay for the moment, just ladened with the exhaustion that always swept in after days like today. With a groan he dragged himself up and stripped his old sheets and threw them in the washing machine Bruce had demanded he allow to be bought for him so he wouldn’t have to carry his stuff to the basement every time he had to laundry, and put fresh things onto his bed. He then traipsed to the bathroom and wiped up the excess sick that had missed the toilet. Trying to take a shower was definitely a no-go but he did splash some water on his face which he’ll admit felt nice. When he finally picked his phone up from where he’d discarded it he allowed himself a tiny smile at text he saw:

**Roy Harper 16:35**

Make sure you eat something before you go to sleep Jay, and pics or it didn’t happen otherwise I’ll set Dickie on you.

The text was followed by the smiling devil emoji and a heart. Knowing Roy would follow through on the threat to ring Dick up and get him to come over to make sure Jason was looking after himself, Jason quickly fixed himself a sandwich that he took a picture of himself with and sent over to Roy. He received a thumbs up and another heart in return. Jason bit his lip for a moment before opting to send a heart back.

Sandwich eaten, and clothes changed - the sweaty stuff put neatly into his laundry basket- he curled back up in bed. Usually he ended up trying to stay awake for days after a particularly potent nightmare but today he was just to damn weary to attempt anything else. Maybe he’d get to dream about being less than 2500 miles from Roy and solidly in the present or future this time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all the support this has gotten so far and of course let me know what you think or any other thoughts you have in the comments!


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you again for all the support this has been getting, it really is appreciated. 
> 
> Enjoy!

Jason woke up the next morning feeling groggy but altogether more functional so he dragged himself out of bed at the early time of 10:30 and made himself an omelet for breakfast. He’d woken up starving after only having had that single sandwich the day before so he quickly ate what he had made before getting up to make himself another helping. He was on his second cup of coffee and curled up on the couch with Hamlet in his other hand when his phone rang, sighing he put down the mug and carefully slipped a bookmark between the pages of his book as he picked up the call. 

He was immediately greeted by Tim’s panicked voice, ‘Your still coming today right?!’ 

‘Still coming to what…?’ Jason wracked his brain for whatever it is he could possibly have forgotten in regards to family events and came up empty.

‘To Damian’s birthday lunch? We definitely talked about it while you were around, I’m certain.’

‘Err no you definitely haven’t.’

Jason frowned, he knew it was the kid’s 14th today so he’d gotten a gift that he was planning to hand over next time he saw the brat but he’d just kind of assumed that because nothing had been said to him he wasn’t invited to whatever the family were doing.

‘Oh you’ve got to be kidding me. Bruce said he was going to talk to you about it which he as usual he probably chicken out because apparently he’s the guy who can face off against the entire Wayne Enterprises board room and win but can’t talk face to face with his own son about coming to the manor for his little brother’s birthday, I swear to god I am this close to-’

‘Hey hey hey Timbo, deep breaths alright. Just slow down I don’t have any plans today anyway. What time should I get there and what had you ringing me about it in the first place?’

‘Yeah, right, yeah. Probably try and get here for about 1? Alfred said he was going to be serving lunch up at about 2:30 with gifts before we eat like usual. It’s just going to be the six of us plus Damian’s friend Jon who’s Kon’s younger brother so the idea of a dress code is just smart enough that we keep Alfred happy but not so smart we won’t be uncomfortable lazing around afterwards. Also canyoupickupthecakeformebecausebruceaskedmetosortitbutihadsomuchtodoforthecompanysoiforgottogopickitupandnowidon’thavetimeandineedhelp!’

‘Woah Timmy, breath. Don’t panic just send me the address and i’ll get it on my way while you focus on what you’re doing. It’s not a problem.’

‘Okay, yeah, it’ll all be fine. Thanks Jason you’re a lifesaver. Okay bye Jay, I’ve got to go now I need a jug of coffee because this paperwork is killing me and I’ve got to get it done so I don’t stress over it during lunch byyyyyyyyye.’

‘You really should lay off the-’ Jason stared down at the phone where Tim had already hung up.

Huh.

Guess he did have plans today after all.  
\---  
Jason ended up putting on a reasonably clean pair of black jeans and a plain black button down with his usual leather jacket thrown over the top, frowning at the harsh bags under his eyes he ran a hand through his hair in an attempt to neaten it, grabbed his gift for Damian and headed out the door. He still kind of felt like shit but getting out and seeing the family would probably be a good way of keeping his mind off of yesterday, plus it would give him a chance to talk to everyone at once about something he’d started to consider since coming back from Star City.

The cake Tim had him pick up was simple but tasteful, shaped like the number 14 and covered in thick chocolate icing with a top layer made up of chunks of chocolate stuck into the icing. Though the kid would never admit it, everyone knew Damian loved chocolate and Jason was 80% sure he had some sort of hoard in his room that Bruce didn’t know about. 

When he arrived at the manor, Tim came stumbling out the front door towards him with a large mug, no doubt filled with coffee, clutched in both hands.

‘Did you get it?’

Jason tried to stifle a laugh at Tim’s disheveled appearance as he reached into the back of the car he’d driven over in (he would have just used his bike like normal but unfortunately the cake made that impossible) and calmly presented the cake box. Tim visibly relaxed for a moment as he took it but then his eyes flicked over Jason’s shoulder and suddenly went comically wide.

‘No, no, no. He wasn’t meant to be here, it was meant to be the dad! Oh my god I’m a mess, this isn’t happening!’

Jason turned around with an eyebrow raised and had to clamp a hand over his mouth to keep himself from laughing out loud when he saw none other than Conner Kent climbing out of the drivers side of a car while a smaller child got out of the passenger seat, Jon he presumed. Suddenly he found the cake box thrust back into his hands, along with a sloshing mug of coffee, as Tim frantically started to run hands through his hair and attempted to straighten out his clothing. 

Taking pity Jason decided to take the lead this time instead of going with the far more tempting offer of stepping back to watch Tim embarrass himself, ‘Hey Kon it’s good to see you again,’ Kon winced a little when Jason made sure to squeeze his hand a little tighter than necessary when they shook but otherwise he was impressed when the younger boy showed no other signs of being intimidated.

‘You too, Jason. Have you met Jon?’ Shifting his younger brother to stand in his place Kon not so subtly pulled his hand from Jason’s grip and stepped right around him in order to get to Tim who squeaked in surprise before attempting to cover it up by dropping straight into conversation. Though luckily Kon looked just as flustered at the surprise interaction as Tim did, but not any less enamoured despite Tim’s bedhead. Jason found himself humming in approval before he caught himself and remembered the 11 year old standing in front of him. He was just about to say something, most likely an inquiry as to why exactly this kid was friends with the demon brat but before he could get a word in he was cut off from a shout from the house. 

‘Todd get away from Kent right now!’

Both he and Jon looked up towards the manor door to see Damian making his way down the steps in a far too large sweater that Jason was pretty sure he’d seen in Dick’s wardrobe before. At the sight of his friend Jon, who had previously been frozen looking up at Jason in equal parts awe and worry, dashed across the space between them and threw his arms around Damian. Jason froze and automatically looked away due to his distinct lack of desire to watch his younger brother punch an 11 year old but he slowly looked back around when he didn’t hear any of the tell tale sounds and only an excited shout of, ‘Happy Birthday Dami!’

The sight in front of him genuinely made Jason question whether he’d actually woken up this morning or whether he was still asleep back in his apartment. Damian was letting the Kent kid hug him, granted he wasn’t hugging back very actively but he wasn’t throwing the boy off either. The only other people Jason had seen Damian accept hugs from before were Bruce and Dick. Just when he was about to turn to Tim and ask if he was hallucinating, Alfred appeared in the doorway and herded the two boys inside the house. Jason stared hard when instead of shrugging Jon off as soon as he was able, Damian allowed an arm the be slung over his shoulders as the pair of them walked into the house, this really was shaping up to be a strange day.

When Alfred exited the house and made his way down the where the three of them were stilling standing, Jason handed over the cake box into his waiting arms before dipping down back into his car to retrieve the gift. When he stood back up he smirked at the way Alfred was eyeing where Tim and Kon’s hands were linked between them.

‘Conner Kent I presume?’

Jason could see the way Kon was trying not to squirm under Alfred’s gaze as he tried to make eye contact, ‘You must be Alfred? It’s really great to meet you and please call me Kon.’

‘Nonsense Master Conner, it’s a pleasure to meet the man who appears to have our Timothy so entranced. You really must join us for lunch, I’m sure Master Bruce will be eager to meet you properly.’

Jason mentally thanked Alfred with everything he had as he watched both Tim and Kon’s eyes widen in sync at the mention of Bruce.

‘I really wouldn’t want to intrude-’

‘I insist, we have more than enough to go around.’

‘Okay then.’ 

Seriously Jason had never appreciated Alfred’s ability to make grown men look like misbehaving children more than this very moment. Breaking the tension, he walked between the two sides towards the door and slapped Tim hard on the shoulder while passing him back his bug of coffee as he went, ‘Guess we’d better all get inside then.’ He looked back and smirked when he saw Tim use his free hand to flip him off behind Alfred’s back.

‘That will not be necessary Master Timothy.’

Jason turned back to face the front as Tim dropped his hand with a glower and moved to tug Kon, who was staring forlornly back at his car, into action.  
\---  
‘They’re for your swords…’ Jason rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, he liked giving gifts but he always ended up getting needlessly anxious when the person was opening them, ‘you know, so they can go on your wall instead of leaning against the corner of your room when you aren’t using them…’

Jason watched as Damian looked down at the blackened wood in his hands, he turned them slowly so he could see the engraving of ‘D Wayne’ along the outside of one of the sides. In an odd moment, Damian looked him in the eyes, ‘Thank you Todd,’ then things returned to reality as his tone changed, ‘these will be adequate, I will ask Pennyworth to put then up right after was have eaten.’

‘No problem Demon,’ Jason ignored the stern look Bruce shot him at the nickname and relaxed as the attention was shifted away from him and onto the next gift being handed over by Dick. Bruce hadn’t said a thing to him about the fact that he’d shown up despite not having been formally invited, which Jason was incredibly thankful for because he was really not up to having that kind of awkward conversation, plus he and Bruce would probably just end up caught in a shouting match until one of them stormed off and yeah Damian could be irritating but Jason wasn’t spiteful enough to ruin his birthday like that. Better for him and Bruce to just refrain from talking directly for now.

It’s not like Jason needed to talk to Bruce anyway, Damian and his friend were highly entertaining, almost as much as watching Kon systematically retracting his hand from Tim’s waist every time Bruce looked over to their side of the room. It was nice anyway, as birthdays at the manor tended to be, everyone trying to abide by Alfred’s no fighting on special occasions rule and generally sticking to sharp looks and eccentric gestures behind the adults backs.

Though Jason’s real highlight of the day came when they went to sit down for lunch and everyone realised that seating was going to be a real problem. Damian, of course, was sat at the head of the table in Bruce’s usual seat with Jon on one side of him and Dick on the other. Kon immediately moved and sat next to his brother, not having looked up to see that this put him directly opposite Bruce who was just about to slide into the seat next to Dick’s. Jason smirked as he watched the exact moment Kon realised it was too late for him to move and that he was going to be stuck sitting directly opposite Bruce for the entire lunch. Tim quickly sat down in the seat beside Kon’s and Cass went opposite him so that left Jason at the other end of the table, which was fine by him as it gave him a perfect view from which to watch everyone. 

The table fell silent as everyone began to eat and it wasn’t until all the plates were almost empty that the silence was finally broken apart from the quiet murmuring that had been going on between Jon and Damian throughout the meal. 

‘So Conner,’ Bruce’s voice was gravelling and low, Kon’s eyes shot up clearly shocked to see it was Bruce that was talking. Jason pondered whether Kon had heard Bruce use any voice other than his Brucie voice before, this particular tone was the one Jason recognised from that time Dick had convinced him the chandelier would be able to take both of their weight and Bruce had walked in to find them lying on the floor, surrounded by glass, with a massive hole in the ceiling above them. Basically, this voice never meant good news. ‘Do you have any plans regarding your future, I’ve met your father, perhaps you will follow in his footsteps by becoming a journalist?’

Kon glanced briefly at Tim who nodded his encouragement before he turned back and made eye contact with Bruce, ‘I’m afraid I don’t really have too many plans Mr Wayne. I would like to attend college for sure, but when it comes to a career I really don’t know yet.’

Bruce narrowed his eyes for a moment, ‘And I here you have been spending a lot of time talking to my second youngest son recently?’

Tim slowly slid down in his seat until Jason could see the way his and Kon’s hands were entwined between them, a detail that had previously been hidden behind his little brothers body. ‘Err yeah, I like Tim very much and I really-’

‘Father! Can we please cease discussing Drake’s relationship, it is my birthday and I refuse to be made to listen to this,’ Damian huffed from his end of the table, his arms crossed in front of him.  
For once Tim looked incredibly relieved that Damian was interrupting and Kon was looking at Damian like he’d just saved his life. Jason decided that if he was going to get a chance to change the subject and not get reprimanded for it, now would be the time.

‘So umm, guys,’ everyone turned from watching Damian to looking at Jason at the opposite end of the table and he swallowed, ‘since everyone is here, I wanted to get something out of the way and I figured this would be the best time to do it. So you guys know I got my GED a couple of months ago and I’ve been starting to look at where I can go to do English next year.’ 

There were various nods around the table from the family while Jon and Kon tried not to look too out of place within what was evidently a family discussion.

‘Well I know most of the places I’ve mentioned have primarily been within a few hours drive of Gotham so I could still be around as much as possible but you see, the thing is, I’ve recently been thinking about also putting in an application for Star City University…’

Silence fell over the table and Jason suddenly became intensely fascinated with straightening the knife and fork in front of him. When he finally did look up Bruce had this baffled look on his face as he sputtered out a, ‘Why?’

‘Well they do have a really good English programme and when me and Tim were out there I really took to the city and I’ve spent my whole life in Gotham and I just think it might be good for me to try something different for a while and-’

‘You want to be closer to Roy don’t you!’

Jason’s head whipped across to Dick almost as fast as Bruce’s did, Dick was smiling at Jason in a way that made him think that his older brother genuinely had no idea what he’d just done.   
‘No, no I-’

‘Roy as in Roy Harper, as in Oliver Queen’s brat? What would Jason want with him?’ Bruce was frowning as he looked between Dick and Jason, every time he was looking in the opposite direction Jason waved his arms in a desperate attempt to get Dick to shut the hell up, however whether Dick got the message was irrelevant because it was Tim who spoke up next.

‘Well B, Jason and Roy met when we were at the gala in Star and they danced together and swapped numbers and have been talking ever since.’

Dick decided that he had clearly made the right move all along as he tagged on the end, ‘Jay’s in loooooove.’

If looks could kill Jason was pretty sure both Dick and Tim would have died a bloody death by now as he glared at them across the table. Bruce however looked a little like he was going to pass out, ‘Jason danced in front of everyone, with someone directly connected to Oliver Queen…?’

‘Yes B, do try to keep up,’ Dick carefully laid a hand on Bruce’s shoulder.

‘Alfred, do you think you could get me another glass of water? Or, I know it isn’t past 6 yet, possibly something a little stronger?’

‘Certainly Master Bruce,’ Alfred disappeared in the direction of the kitchen and Jason was pretty sure that look on his face was amusement, he felt incredibly tempted to just start sulking over this entire situation the way he would have been able to when he was younger.

Everything was quiet until Alfred returned and handed Bruce a tumbler of, what Jason assumed was, whisky which Bruce downed in one gulp before he turned and looked at Jason for a long moment. He mostly managed to stay steady under that stare.

‘You really like this boy Jaylad?’

Suddenly, at hearing that question, a thousand images filled his mind: Roy slipping up next to him in the bar, Roy stopping that photographer taking anymore pictures of them when Jason had frozen, the way his smile had changed from fake to real when he’d seen Jason outside the gala, the solid feeling of Roy’s shoulder under his cheek, the way he hadn’t asked a thing from Jason when he’d helped him get back to his hotel room safely, how he’d taken it in his stride when Jason had rung him up the other day and throughout it all that feeling of how good it felt to have someone around who his gut told him he could depend on. Sure he hadn’t really known Roy in person for very long but since they had met they’d pretty much been in contact nonstop the entire time and he really did want to get to know him better.

‘Yeah B, I think I really do.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I had to include Jon because i've been catching up on super sons lately and his and Damian's friendship is just the best. 
> 
> Thanks for reading and if you can please drop me a comment to let me know what you thought of this chapter.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again for all the support, the last chapter especially had some amazing comments that really helped encourage me to keep going with this at a steady pace.
> 
> Hope you enjoy the new chapter!

‘Well then, if I get to meet this boy and it’s something you really want to do, I don’t see why you can’t at least apply,’ Bruce’s voice was level and devoid of emotion in a way that would make any other person think he didn’t care but Jason knew that was just his way of covering up the emotion he was really feeling. 

‘B? You’ve already met Roy, multiple times?’

‘Yes Dick, when he was 15 and not potentially looking to date one of my sons.’

Jason was looking down at his twisting hands in his lap when he felt fingers wrapping carefully around his forearm, Cass was smiling at him softly across the corner of the table, ‘It’s nice.’ 

Jason smiled back and put his own bigger hand on top of her’s,’Thanks Cass,’ he dropped his voice conspirituality, ‘but if I’m honest you aren’t really one of the ones I was concerned about convincing.’

Right on cue a shout came from down the table, ‘Father! This is intolerable, you might be okay with allowing a Wayne to associate with a Queen but I am not, put a stop this immediately.’

Jason raised an eyebrow at Cass before grinning down the table, ‘Aww Dami, you called me a Wayne.’

Damian scowled and crossed his arms grumpily, ‘father did adopt you legally, so it is technically your name but that’s not the point, if I am going to be forced to accept this I demand to also be present when Harper comes to visit!’

Dick reached over and ruffled Damian’s hair (he was the only one who wouldn’t get his hand bitten off by trying), ‘You’re cute when you get protective Little D.’

Damian only sunk down into his seat further with a huff, Jason glanced over at Jon and had to smile a little in amusement when he saw the boy looking at them all in awe, he wondered if the kid had ever seen ‘little brother Damian’ in comparison to ‘heir to the Wayne fortune Damian’, he supposed it was probably quite jolting to see Damian around Dick for the first time. 

‘Great,’ Jason gritted out, ‘guess I’ll just invite him all the way across the country to come to family dinner, I’m sure that will go down well.’

Tim rolled his eyes while Bruce only raised an eyebrow and gave Jason a look. 

‘Fine, fine, I’ll talk to him,’ Jason rubbed his forehead and was definitely relieved when he saw Alfred standing in the doorway, Damian’s cake in hand with the candles already lit. 

As soon as the lights went off everyone looked thankful for the distraction and broke into a painfully out of tune rendition of Happy Birthday lead by an over enthusiastic Dick closely followed in volume by Jon, even Cass joined in quietly. For a moment after Alfred set the cake down on the table Damian forgot about his usually carefully controlled expressions and grinned openly at the excessive amounts of chocolate, though by the time the song had ended his face was mostly straight again aside from a barely noticeable upward quirk to one side of his mouth. 

Dick however had a wide grin spread from ear to ear that didn’t falter when Alfred slapped his hand away when he tried to reach a finger across and dip it into the icing before Damian had even had a chance to blow out the candles. 

Damian managed to get 13 out of the 14 blown out but before he could get the last one he flinched back due to the flash that suddenly lit up the room, everyone turned to glare in the direction of Tim who had produced a camera and was just lowering it from where it had been pointed at Damian.

He only shrugged uncaringly and made a point of flicking the switch on top that turned the flash off before promptly returning to taking photos, leaving everyone’s stares to flip over to Kon when he snorted loudly in amusement and immediately flung a hand up in a failed attempt to keep the undignified sound in or maybe to try and prevent himself from laughing further.

Despite Bruce’s apprehension, Damian demanded he be allowed to cut the cake himself and so everyone pretended not to notice when he gave Jon the first and biggest slice and Tim the smallest, which was angrily protested until Alfred stepped in and swapped Tim’s slice for his own marginally bigger one. 

Jason himself was perfectly content to sit with his moderately sized piece and observe while trying to figure out how in the hell he was going to go about telling Roy he liked him, he once again found himself cursing his lack of teenage years and therefore his complete lack of experience with this kind of thing, and then how to enter into the topic of asking him to fly across the country to formally meet his family. Yeah, he had nothing.  
\---  
After lunch Damian insisted on someone taking him and Jon to his favourite arcade in the city and Kon ended up volunteering to drive them which of course led to Tim going too, leaving just Jason, Bruce, Dick, Cass and Alfred at the house until dinner. Wonderful.

Before he got the chance to slip off and join Alfred in the kitchen to definitely not try and get himself some more cake, Dick grabbed onto his arm and pulled him upstairs. 

‘I thought we could put up the sword stands so they’re all done by the time the boys get back and also save Alfred the job,’ Dick was smiling as they detoured to pick up the equipment so Jason relented and went along with it, he honestly was curious to see what the inside of the kid’s room actually looked like but it would also give him a reason to not let himself get caught alone with Bruce because there was no way he had to energy for that argument after yesterday.

Jason stopped short when he went to follow Dick into Damian’s room, the place was spotless, like seriously spotless. It was practically Jason levels of tidy. After getting a look at the landfill site that made up Tim’s room and the piles of ‘borrowed’ items all over Dick’s apartment this was definitely not what he had been expecting. 

Dick glanced back at him over his shoulder, ‘Crazy tidy right? You’ll never believe this but i found out the other day that when he first arrived B convinced him he wouldn’t be allowed to keep his swords unless he kept his room spotless because otherwise it,’ Dick made exaggerated air quotes with both hands, ‘wouldn’t be safe.’

Jason huffed, ‘of course he did, guess he was just sick of dealing with the trail of mess that you and Tim leave behind. Like slugs.’

Dick threw a hand across his chest dramatically, ‘how could you Jay? I know exactly where everything I own is.’

‘Yeah, including the jacket that mysteriously disappeared from my apartment the last time you dropped by?’

Dick at least at the decency to look a little sheepish but he definitely did not tell Jason where he could find the jacket before turning towards the wall with the stands in hand. They spent the next moments lining up the stands, figuring out how high they should go and drilling pilot holes ready. It wasn’t until Dick was sat on the bed with his legs crossed, one of Damian’s katanas resting in his lap, watching Jason insert the mounting screws into the wall that the silence broke.

‘So Star City huh? That’s a pretty long way to go.’ 

Jason didn’t look away from the wall, ‘Yeah, nice to get some distance. Same like when you moved to Bludhaven right?’

He could feel Dick’s gaze burning into the back of his head but he resisted the urge to turn around, ‘I guess and I, more than anyone, understand that reasoning it’s just a big change is all.’

‘I know how to handle a bit of change Dick, i’m not incompetent you know,’ so he maybe pushed against the wall a little harder than necessary as he moved to walk to the other end of the area they were putting the swords up in, his back was still to Dick but he heard him stand from the bed. 

‘I know Jay, I never said you were. Just you’ve spent pretty much your entire life in Gotham and Star’s on the other side of the country-’

‘It’s not your choice.’

‘I’m not saying it is, I’m just trying to say that I’ll miss you dammit!’

Now that made Jason pause, when he finally turned around Dick was dropping back down onto the bed, ‘It’s okay Jay, really, you do what you want to do and don’t let anything stop you the way you never have,’ the smile on Dick’s face was soft, ‘but you’ve got to know that to me you’re always going to be that headstrong street kid that I spent too long seeing as the embodiment of my anger at Bruce instead of the little brother you became, the little brother I’ve only just gotten back.’

Jason had no idea what to say to that so he just sat down onto the bed next to Dick and looked back at him. As always Dick knew what to say next, he leaned across and nudged Jason in the shoulder, ‘you’ll bring your new boyfriend back for christmas though right?’

‘He’s not my boyfriend!’ Jason lips quirked up slightly as he gently shoved back, ‘but yeah I’ll come back for christmas, you know I wouldn’t miss out on Alfred’s christmas cookies for the world.’

He let Dick put a hand on his shoulder but he drew the line when his brother started to lean forward for a hug, instead jumping up and away, ‘na ah big brother, you used up hug privileges for the month when you picked up me and Timbo at the airport.’

Dick pouted but didn’t try again as he joined him standing and they both headed back over the wall to finish the job. It took them awhile more but eventually they had all three of Damian’s favourite swords mounted on the wall, perfectly straight.  
\---  
When the younger boys returned it was with Damian and Jon hopping out of the back of the car quickly, the latter pulling Damian along by his arm as he loudly complained about how Drake and that boy had refused to stop being gross the entire time. Jon wasn’t being quite so vocal about it but his facial expression clearly showed he thought the same. 

Tim and Kon walked back into the manor together and hanging off each other's arms, completely ignoring their respective little brothers as they pretended to gag loudly in the corner when Tim went up onto his tiptoes to kiss Kon’s cheek before using their linked hands to pull him up the grand staircase.

‘Door stays open boys!’

Jason smirked when a loud grown echoed down from the top of the stairs before the distinctive sound of a door slamming decidedly closed. When Jason looked at him sideways, Bruce only rolled his eyes and sighed, throwing his arms up in a ‘what can you do?’ type gesture before he turned and followed Jon, Damian and Dick where they had disappeared into the closest living room.  
Not really feeling like sitting in on whatever inane film Dick and Jon were no doubt currently trying to convince Damian to watch, Jason instead opted to make his way over to the kitchen where he slipped in an sat down on a stool to nibble at the fresh cookies that has just been placed on the surface while watching Alfred unload and then reload the dishwasher. The repetitive motion was calming and instantly reminded Jason of the first time he’d come into this kitchen.

It had been about a week after Bruce had taken him off the streets and Jason’s skin was crawling with the waiting, waiting for the other shoe to drop. It just felt wrong to be getting all this stuff given to him without having to do anything to earn it, that just wasn’t how the world worked. So, in his desperation to make sense of things, he had followed the butler back into the kitchen and tried again and again to help him wash the fine china by hand until Alfred had gently taken him by each arm, placed the cloth he had picked up on the side, and led him over to take a seat in the same place he was sitting in now. He had firmly been told that he was perfectly welcome to stay but that Alfred was perfectly capable of doing the work by himself.

He had eventually got up and left, the uncomfortable feeling that came from watching somebody do work that you were unable to help with getting to be too much but not before the calming environment of the kitchen had become a place of significance in his mind.

‘What do you think, of this whole Star City thing Alfie?’

If the question caught Alfred by surprise the line of his shoulders didn’t show it, ‘well I can’t say the suggestion is unexpected Master Jason, you have been conversing with Mister Harper on a rather frequent basis as of late.’

Jason found himself smiling without conscious volition and looked down, ‘yeah I guess we have.

‘What I think Master Jason, is that you deserve to be happy, and if you think being in Star City with Mister Harper will make you happy then it is certainly not my place to deny you that,’ he gave Jason a pointed look over his shoulder, ‘nor is it Master Bruce’s nor Young Master Damian’s.’ 

Jason smirked around the fresh bite of cookie in his mouth, ‘you really do give the best advice Alfie, you know that?’

‘I have been told,’ though Jason couldn’t see Alfred’s face something told him his expression was a warm one. Missing Alfred would definitely be a massive con to attending college on the other side of the country but like he’d said to Dick, he would come home for holidays and it isn’t like he’s survived without Gotham, without the family, before. Of course the main reason he wanted to go was to see if this thing with Roy was real and had the potential to be what he hoped for but he wasn’t lying when he said it would be nice to get out of Gotham for a while. It’s not like he would ever deny being a Gothamite through and through but for all the good memories the city held there was so many painful ones, so he’d be lying if he said getting away for a while probably wouldn’t help his mental state. Gotham was home though, and he was honestly shocked that Dick seemed to be under the impression that leaving for college would potentially mean him leaving for good.  
\---  
That evening found the 8 of them spread out in the living room with the comfiest furniture rather than the one with the more formal stuff. Bruce, Cass and Dick on one couch; Damian and Jon on the other; Kon and Tim were curled up half on top of each other on an oversized armchair which left Jason the option of either sharing the second couch with the squirts or the floor. He went for the floor because the soft carpeting was comfortable enough and didn’t kick him every time Bruce or Dick weren’t looking. 

After Damian had picked out a horror film that him, Jon and Dick had watched earlier, it was Dick who jumped up and slotted a DVD into the machine he grinned as he dropped back down into his seat, a smile that only got wider when everyone else groaned in unison as the introduction to the Lion King started up.

‘Why does it always have to be Disney with you?’

‘The Lion King is a masterpiece!’

‘Yeah to a 7 year old maybe.’ 

‘Don’t pretend like you don’t know all the words to Hakuna Matata Tim.’

‘That is… beside the point Dick!’

‘Grayson you said you wouldn’t pick a musical again!’

Jason chimed in with a contribution that earned him a laugh from the majority and a confused half glare from Damian, ‘oh no! Turn it off before he sees it otherwise Mr ‘I just can’t wait to be king’ over there is going to be torturing us with how his life parallels to Simba’s for weeks!’

‘Come on Jay, is that really the most convincing reason you can think of to back me up with.’

Jason shrugged over at Tim, ‘Hamlet is Hamlet, even if it is being loosely reenacted by cartoon lions.’

‘Shut uuup, it’s starting!’

Ignoring Dick’s humming of the circle of life Tim continued to dramatically protest the film which inevitably failed and everyone pretended to ignore it later on when he was clearly smiling and singing along to I Just Can’t Wait to be King under his breath. 

About halfway through the film Alfred came in with the rest of the cake along with multiple bowls of popcorn, one of which Jason grabbed for himself and curled up around protectively. 

19:54

Yeah it’s been good, Dick predictably making us all watch lion king though

Roy 19:55

Of course he did, don’t laugh but when we were 12 me, him and wally made up an entire dance routine to friend like me from aladdin. It was very dramatic

19:55

Got video?

Roy 19:56

…

Roy 19:56

There is a chance Wally’s uncle Barry has evidence…

19:57

Now there is something i have to see

Roy 19:57

In my defense we were 12 and eating a lot of sugar

Roy 19:58

How’d the sword display stands go down

19:59

Good i think. always hard to tell with the brat but i think they went down well. Got to try and learn his language

Roy 20:00

Yeah i’ve only met the kid once and tbh if he actually said thanks to you he probably meant it

20:00

Yeah probably

20:02

I told them about the SCU idea

Roy 20:02

How’d that go? U okay?

20:03 

Weirdly alright

Roy 20:04

I still don’t get why a guy who could probably get into UCLA if he tried would want to come to a dump like Star, but i’m certainly not complaining

Jason frowned down at his phone for a long moment.

20:07

I got reasons, not like i can go downhill from GU anyways. SCU has a great english program

Why was confessing feeling so hard? If the family didn’t already know and expect him to eventually tell Roy how he felt, Jason was pretty sure he’d end up never telling Roy about his feelings and just end up pretending the feelings weren’t there at all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, i hope you liked it and let me know what you thought in the comments below!   
> Also don't worry there is definitely going to be an increase in Jayroy again next chapter


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More Jayroy, as promised.  
> Hope you enjoy!

_Hi Roy, so I kind of expected you to pick up so we could talk in person but it’s fine i’ll just leave a message. This’ll probably be easier actually I can get everything out in one hit and then you can get back to me later and that’ll be fine, yeah, definitely, good. Shit I’ve kind of mucked this up anyway now so i’m just gonna delete it and start over._

Jason hit the delete message button.

_Hey Harper, I know you can’t get to the phone right now but that’s alright I’m just going to say what i’m gonna say anyway so you can get back to me when you are done with whatever it is you are doing. So, so the thing, the thing is, DAMMIT JASON JUST SPIT IT OUT, it’s not like it’s that damn weird. Guess I’m gonna have to delete this one too._

He hit the button again.

_Hey Roy, it’s Jason, but you already knew that so that’s wasting time and now I’m wasting more time so this message is gonna get deleted too now._

And again.

_Hey Roy, I know you’re busy right now but when I told Bruce about the SCU thing he also found out that we’ve been talking a whole lot and he kind of insisted on meeting you before letting me put in my application so I was hoping you’d be able to find the time to come across to Gotham soon? I know it’s a long way for you to come for just a dumb family gathering but I also really want to confess the fact that I think I’m falling head over heels in love you to your face instead of over the phone so if you could get down here and not run for your life when that happens that’d be great so FUCK ME, yeah?_

Deleted.

_Hi Roytoy._

Deleted! Where the fuck did that come from?!

_Hi Roy, so I know you are super busy with everything you are working on right now but when I talked to B about SCU Dickhead kind of spilled how much we’ve been talking and now the old man wants to meet you before I apply. I know coming across the country is a huge inconvenience but I would appreciate it a lot. You can even stay at my apartment while you’re here if you want, only if you want of course, I would never make you do that. Although of course I wouldn’t object if you did want to share, okaaay I’m just going to go ahead and delete this one too, bye._

‘Get your shit together Jason, for fucks sake!’

_Hi Roy, so I know this is super inconvenient but Bruce wants to meet you properly after I told him about SCU and it’d really help to persuade him if you could come visit Gotham for a few days? You can totally stay at my apartment if you want to, because it would be really great to spend some more time together away from my train wreck family. Okay so just get back to me on that whenever you can? Great. Love you, bye._

‘SHIT!’ Jason only just managed to hit the button to delete that one before it was too late.

_Hi Roy, it’s fine if you’re too busy for it but do you think you’d be able to make it across to Gotham for a few days sometime soon? It’s just when I talked to B about the SCU stuff Dick mentioned that me and you have been talking a lot and now he is saying that he wants to meet you. It’s dumb I know but me and the old man are on the best terms we’ve been on for a long time and I would really owe you if you could get over for just a couple of days. No pressure, so just get back to be about that whenever you can? Thanks._

When he’d finally hung up, Jason seriously considered just straight up chucking his phone into the wall on the other side of the room, but at least that was now one less thing for him to have to worry about. Sure, now he just had to figure out how he was going to tell Roy how he really felt because he had no idea how to do that without ending up sounding like a bumbling idiot.

Getting up and making himself a cup of coffee, as much as he didn’t mind the manor it was definitely nice to have his own space again, Jason sat down in front of his laptop and pulled up the news. He scrolled through the endless stream of politics and international incidents, scanning over some of the more interesting looking articles in more detail, until he eventually reached the tabloid based sections. He then snorted so hard a little bit of coffee came flying out his nose. On a photo filling up almost the whole of the screen was Tim and Kon, eating each others faces off against a dirty wall in the back corner of what Jason assumed was the arcade they took Damian and Jon too. The large block-letter headline below the picture read: **TIMOTHY DRAKE-WAYNE SPOTTED WITH MYSTERY MAN.** Jason almost rolled his eyes at the distinct lack of originality but it wasn’t like all Gotham reporters were Vicki Vale, plus he did feel a little bad for Kon. Someone was sure to recognise him as the son of that Metropolis reporter at some point, especially after he’d attended several events with his father in Gotham, and the paparazzi would be all over his every move for days or until someone more interesting came up.

Just as he was reaching across for his phone to send Tim a mocking text about the article and the several others like it he had just spotted, it rang. Jason’s heart leapt up into his throat when the caller id confirmed it to Roy and he quickly scrambled across to the coffee table before it could ring out.

‘Hey Roy, you get my message?’

‘Hey Jay, eeer yeah, it was pretty clear you meant to delete them but yeah I got them. All of them.’

Jason froze. The entire world fell away until all he was aware of was the shaking of the phone against his ear, was his hand really shaking that much? He thought he could distantly hear Roy calling out his name and he wanted to reply but he just couldn’t, not for a long moment. Then, suddenly, everything rushed back in at once, as though someone had pressed play on a film in the middle of a chase sequence and Jason heaved in a deep breath in an attempt to quiet the world somewhat.

‘Jason, Jason, JASON? That’s it, I don’t care if you get mad at me, I’m calling Dick and getting him to go over to you Ja-’

‘No, no, don’t call Dick. Please. I’m alright I swear.’

‘Jesus Fuck Jason, you just blanked out completely for almost 5 minutes!’

5 minutes? It hadn’t felt like that long?

‘I’m alright Roy really and, and I just want you to know that if you, if you never want to talk to me again that’s absolutely fine. More than fine. I would totally support it actually, not like it would be hard anyway. We live on other sides of the country after all-’

‘JAY! My god, would you just listen for a sec, let me talk you daft man.’

Jason really couldn’t make sense of Roy’s tone right now. He should sound angry but he wasn’t, he was speaking softly and affectionately, if more assertively than Jason was used to being directed at himself, and Jason couldn’t understand why so he shut up like ordered.

‘Jaybird if you would just listen for one second you would give me the chance to tell you that i’m not going anywhere and if you were in front of me right now you’d have to be the one stopping me from kissing you!’

‘What?’

‘I said exactly what you thought I did Jaybird, now don’t you go telling me this was all part of some big joke at my expense…?’

‘No I, I meant it.’

Jason heard a nervous laugh rattle through the phone, ‘good job too Jaybird because I meant it too. Now how does this weekend sound? I know it’s soon but after all this I’ve really got to see you sooner rather than later.’

‘Yes, err, yeah this weekend’s fine. I’ll let B know I guess.’

‘Thanks Jay, now I know this is really really shitty of me but I promised I would meet Dinah for lunch and I’m currently sat in the car and late so I truly do have to run, I can call you back tonight though?’

‘Yeah yeah that’s fine, go do your thing Roy, I’ll talk to you tonight.’

‘See you in 4 days Jaybird.’

‘See you in 4-’

Jason drifted off as he hung the phone up and placed it carefully on the coffee table. That is before he picked it up again two seconds later and checked his call log just to make sure that, yes, that did just happen. Roy knew, Roy knew and he said he felt the same. Jason had barely let himself think it might go down that way and now it had and he just couldn’t stop thinking about it. This SCU thing just had to work out because if it didn’t Bruce was going to be so mad if he spent all his previously rejected trustfund on flights between Star City and Gotham.

\---

‘Oh you have got to be fucking kidding me right now.’

There was no way Jason was getting through that crowd without getting on his bike and pushing the damn thing by hand. The entire of road going up to the main gates to Wayne manor was covered by a massive group of reporters for what looked like everything from widely known newspapers and tabloids to internet bloggers still hunting out their ticket to the big time. Jason had been heading up to the manor to let Alfred know when Roy would be visiting and also to pick up a jacket he’d accidently left behind (he was 90% sure Dick had tried to steal it but Alfred had caught him before he’d left for Bludhaven) last time he was here. He jumped off his bike and began to push it up the path way towards the smaller side gate just next to the main one.

It wasn’t until he had managed to get halfway through, a large pair of emergency sunglasses pushed hastily onto his face, that someone decided to take notice of him. The chain reaction was one of the quickest he’d ever seen and within a moment someone had identified him and he was being bombarded with questions and blocked from his path forward.

‘Jason, do you know who the man in the picture with Timothy is?’

Because of course that’s what this was about.

‘Is it just a fling? The picture location suggests something more serious.’

‘Can you confirm that it’s the son of Daily Planet reporter Clark Kent?’

Jerking away from a hand that was grabbing at his jacket collar, playing it off as an irritated shrug, he let the mask fall downwards and a lazy smile spread across his face as he pulled his sunglasses off in a fluid motion.

‘Come on guys, I’m really not the big brother Timbo goes to about that kind of thing. That picture was the first I heard of it too, which frankly I’m a little offended by. Although you’ll be sure I’m going to take any angle I can when it comes teasing that kid.’ He looked around at the crowd, ignoring the random camera flashes and the edge of panic the white-light threatened to let in, ‘if you would move, me and my bike need to get through to the manor, now.’

He cocked an eyebrow and slid the aviators back onto his face in a way he knew made him look like an asshole but also carried an incomparable air of finality that almost always worked. This time was no different and the crowd cautiously began to clear until he had a direct line to the gate he had originally been heading for. When he stepped through, knowing full well just how uncalled for it was, Jason turned around and bent down in a long drawn out bow before shooting them a grin and a ‘thank you so much for your time’ then switching his attention back to the manor. Where, behind the fountain, he could see Alfred standing in the doorway, propping the door open with one arm.

‘Must we always resort to dramatics Master Jason?’

‘You know we wouldn’t be Waynes if we didn’t Alfie.’

‘Unfortunately I am all too aware of that or are you forgetting that you are talking to the man who raised Master Bruce.’

‘And for that I will never be envious.’ Jason left his bike out the front and strode up the steps until he was standing just before the doorway, ‘you seem to have forgotten to bring my jacket, and here I was hoping I wouldn’t even have to cross the threshold this time.’

Alfred face was neutral and his voice completely deadpan, ‘So I have Master Jason, it seems you will just have to come and join me for the tea in the kitchen I was just brewing because if I try to find that jacket of yours now it will have gone cold by the time I get back to it.’

Jason let himself grin, ‘and I suppose it is going to be a complete coincidence when we walk in there to find you’ve made enough for two ey Alfie?’

Alfred only quirked up one side of his lips in a barely distinguishable movement and turned on his heel to disappear into the house, leaving Jason little choice but to follow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is probably going to be my last update until a week or so into the new year, but almost definitely until after christmas. It all depends on what my time looks like during the holidays. So i hope that everyone has the best break that they can and know that even if i'm taking a break too i am sure i will be back to this story!  
> Nevertheless let me know what you thought of this chapter down in the comments below and thank you for reading so far.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're back! Chapter 10, also known as Roy comes to Gotham.

Four days later Jason found himself leaning up against the most expensive car he could find in Bruce’s garage (which he just liked and definitely wasn’t trying to impress Roy with), and fiddling with the bright red carnation that Dick had advised him to give to Roy yesterday when Jason had called him during a panic over the fact that flowers had meanings? And how was he meant to know which one was the right one? 

Although he had decided to bring the flower along, he had opted to dress fairly similar to usual in just his black jeans, black shirt and leather jacket. Right now, however, Jason was mostly just regretting not buying a flower with thorns up the stem because then he would have a effective, if destructive, way of dispelling some of the nerves he was feeling at seeing Roy again. He knew it was silly because him and Roy had spoken on the phone everyday since Jason had made a complete idiot of himself when telling Roy how he felt but meeting in real life again was different. Roy was his  _ boyfriend _ , Jason grinned at his feet, he had a  _ boyfriend _ . Though to be quite honest Jason was terrified. Sure he’d been on those few dates with Rina from school back before everything but this was not even close to being the same. Jason couldn’t help but smile as he remembered the first time him and Rina had gone out, how Alfred had carefully ironed his best shirt for him and frowned as Bruce ruffled the hair he’d just carefully neatened and Bruce himself had handed him enough money for the both of them and then spent the rest of the evening adamantly insisting to Jason that ‘no the man with the wonky moustache sat at the other end of the diner had not been him’ and ‘where had he gotten that idea from?’. It was a nice memory but he had never felt overly attached to Rina, probably because he had been 12 at the time, Roy was just, Roy was different and Jason was terrified he was going to get this wrong.

Surely Roy would get frustrated with how inexperienced Jason was and Roy clearly had experience if Dick had been telling the truth before. Jason was well aware of the fact that he was spiralling but he really had zero way of stopping it and just desperately twisted his watch whilst watching the steady stream of people exiting through the arrivals door. Luckily it was right then that Roy walked out alongside a large increase in the stream of passengers. Jason watched as Roy paused for a moment, glancing around and felt the knot in his chest tighten slightly when he was spotted and Roy grinned widely and swung his hand high in the air in a wave. Jason couldn’t help but grin and wave back across the the crowd before he quickly tugged at his hair and flattened out any remaining creases in his shirt, this was all going to be fine. 

‘Hey Jaybird,’ Jason let Roy pull him into a half hug that wasn’t stifling but wasn’t empty either.

‘Hey Roy, I…’ they pulled back and Jason pushed the flower sheltered in his hand out between them. Roy’s eyes softened and his smile widen as he reached out and guided Jason’s hand up until he could feel the soft fabric of Roy’s jacket underneath his fingers and they were both slipping the flower into his top breast pocket. 

They made eye contact for a long moment Jason felt suddenly rather breathless. 

‘Thanks Jay, it’s beautiful. Now just quickly, I’m really sorry I didn’t warn you but I didn’t know until right when I left and my phone was dead and I’ve charged it now but we were on the plane and we flew commercial so no wifi so I couldn’t text you and just please forgive me.’

‘Roy, what-?’

‘Ah nice to know you boys are happy to see each other, that’s always a good sign in my experience. Nice car Jason, though I must admit I’ve got the latest version back in Star but this one’s nice too. Will you be driving us all to the manor?’

Jason took a deep calming breath and fought to resist the urge to pull his hand into a fist where it had fallen back to his side. What the hell was Oliver fucking queen doing here?

‘What the hell are you doing here?’

Oliver at least had the courtesy to look a little taken aback by Jason’s tone but he almost immediately smoothed the reaction over and returning to his previous amused expression, ‘well it’s lovely to see you too Jason. You see I was planning to ask Roy if he wanted to stay the weekend at the manor to get some time outside of the city but then I found out he was coming here and I thought why not come along?’

‘Oh I can’t imagine why not,’ Roy shot out the side of his mouth earning himself a sharp glare from Oliver before he turned his heel on both of them, threw his bag into the trunk of the car and slid into the passenger seat, leaving Roy and Jason alone.

When Jason turned back around so he was facing Roy again with his back to the car he was surprised to see the tint of worry in his eyes, ‘I really am sorry Jason I swear. He just said he was coming and I was already running late. If I had stopped to talk him out of it I would have missed my flight and there was no way that was happening, I’m just so goddamn sorry.’

‘Chill out Harper, it’s fine. At least you got here at the right time ay?’ He reached out and ran the flat of his palm down the flapping front of Roy’s jacket which encouraged the other boy to step closer and close the distance between them. 

‘Jason Todd,’

‘Yeah?’

‘I would very much like to kiss you now,’

‘I think that could be arranged.’

As his heart rate began to rapidly increase, Jason reached up and flipped Roy’s bright blue baseball cap off of his head and twisted it behind him onto the top of the car. He reached down and used a finger to tip Roy’s chin upwards slightly just as he felt a hand push flat against his hip to hold him fast against the car door. This was going to be so perfect. Jason breathed deep and his nose was filled with the familiar metallic musk that Roy carried with him both in and out of his workshop, he let Roy wrap a hand around the base of his neck to help draw him down and he felt warm breaths skirting across his lips, this was, this was-

They jerked apart, a loud banging thumping up Jason’s spine and causing him to jump violently, accidentally causing Roy to take a step back in the process. The banging came again soon followed by a calling in the car, ‘No rush boys really, it’s not like we have places to be or anything.’ Seriously, fuck Oliver Queen.

Jason looked back up to see Roy looking just as put out as he felt. He expected for them both to immediately climb in the car but instead he froze when Roy leant down and pecked him on the mouth before breaking away such a tiny amount that his nose was still pushed up against Jason’s, ‘To be continued later I hope?’ With a quick stroke of his thumb over Jason’s hip and a teasing smirk crossing his face Roy climbed into the car, leaving Jason pinned in position failing horribly at resisting the urge to touch his thumb across his lips.

\---

The drive to the manor had been quiet after they’d exchanged the usual pleasantries about the quality of the flight (smooth with no delays said Roy, he didn’t understand why they couldn’t just fly private said Oliver), Jason had ended up turning on the radio just to fill the silence of the car. It was a relief to get to the manor. That was until the front of the house came into view, along with the family that resided there. The entire family. 

‘You have got to be kidding me.’

‘Oh god.’

Jason pulled the car to a stop and immediately thumped his forehead down onto the steering wheel, twisting his head to the side so he could look at Roy, who was leaning forward over the front seats so he could look out the windscreen. 

‘I had no idea they were all gonna be here when we arrived I swear, hell Alfred was the only one I directly told.’

Roy made a strangled sound of acknowledgment but didn’t divert his eyes at all. Oliver was quiet for once where he sat in the passenger seat, Jason felt a slight flare of amusement at the idea of Oliver regretting having come but it quickly died as he followed both of their sight lines himself. They looked like the goddamn Addams family, how Bruce had managed to convince them all to be waiting for their arrival was beyond Jason but here they all were. Bruce, Dick, Cass, Tim and Damian all lined up with the shortest at the front and tallest at the back. Dick’s hands were gripping each of Damian’s shoulders, in an effort to keep him in place if his little brother’s squirming was anything to go by and whenever Bruce wasn’t looking Tim kept on glancing down at the phone he held at his hip, no doubt messaging Kon as that was all he ever seemed to be doing on that thing these days. Jason leaned back in his seat and Roy took that as a cue to slump sideways so his face was pushed against his shoulder, ‘Guess we had better do this then.’

‘We could always just turn around and go hide out at my apartment?’

Roy chuckled into his neck, ‘mmm only if I’m allowed to push Ollie out the car first.’

‘Good idea,’ the short exchange left Jason feeling a hell of a lot more relaxed as he took hold of the handle of the car door and pushed it open so he could climb out and onto the gravel of the driveway. He heard Roy do the same but funnily enough Oliver’s door stayed firmly closed for the moment. The two of them headed up to the house together, somehow ending up with their pinky fingers intertwined in a hot point that flowed out over the rest of Jason’s body. 

It was Dick, in his usual fashion, that stepped forward and broke the ice by throwing his arms around Roy and anchoring him into a tight hug that left both of them smiling as they broke apart.

‘Hey Dickie, it’s been awhile.’

‘Too long Roy, too long.’

Jason bit his lip as Roy approached Bruce next, squaring his shoulders he reached out a hand and they shook, ‘good to see you again Mr Wayne.’

‘You too, Mr Harper,’ Jason winced a little when Bruce shot out a tight smile and clearly clenched down on Roy’s hand with that bruising grip of his, Roy to his credit only flexed his hand out when Bruce had looked away from him and back towards the rest of their ragtag group.

Tim just opted to say hey, slap Roy on the shoulder, and headed back into the house.

Damian stepped forward and looked as though he wanted to look down his nose at Roy but instead ended up just squinting up at him, ‘Just so you know Harper, I own many swords,’ he then nodded to himself sharply and strutted off after Tim.

Cass smiled sweetly and carefully tucked a stray strand of hair back behind her ear, ‘Me too.’

Roy’s eyes widened minutely as Cass walked past him while trailing the tip of a finger across the exposed skin of his neck, he flicked his gaze over at Bruce whose face was full of completely undisguised mirth, ‘as you can see my children are very skilled.’

If Jason wasn’t mistaken he was sure he heard Roy squeak, however before he could confirm anything the amusement on Bruce’s face fell as his eyes flicked from Roy to something behind him. 

The only warning they received was a quiet, ‘Oh shit,’ from Dick before Jason and Roy were looking around to see Oliver strutting up the driveway, a razor sharp smirk on his face as he looked right at Bruce.

‘Brucie! Hope you don’t mind my tagging along! I mean I can’t remember the last time I saw the inside walls of Wayne manor?’

Bruce’s eyes were cold, ‘oh I don’t know Oliver, maybe it was the time you faked being far too drunk and called my son a, what was it, dirty street rat who will probably steal all my silverware?’

‘Bruce-’ Jason bristled when the pair ignored him and Oliver spoke right over him.

‘Yeah well those days are behind us now and I’m sure Jason has grown into a… fine… young man.’

‘Oh he has, and I’m sure the same applies to Roy. Not that you’d know considering how clear you’ve made your complete lack of family ties evident to all.’

Bruce was towering over Oliver his eyes narrowed, neither of them looked in anyway close to backing down. 

‘Oh and you and your boys have had such stellar relationships? Wasn’t it your youngest who produced a knife and threatened to stab a reporter when they asked him for an interview a few years ago?’

‘Oliver-’ Roy sounded exasperated, like this was a conversation he’d already had to listen to a hundred times before.

‘Oh how’s Dinah by the way? I know you two decided to take a break a few months ago? How’s that going?’

Eventually it was Dick who ended up stepping all the way between both of them to get them to shut up and directed Bruce into the house firmly, once again Jason found himself getting envious of Dick’s ability to influence Bruce’s decisions without getting himself the silent treatment for at least a week.

Not wanting to deal with whatever this situation was, Jason grabbed onto Roy’s hand and pulled him without much resistance in the direction of the kitchen, ‘come on, we’ll go tell Alfie that there’s gonna be an extra person for lunch.’

‘God yes that sound better than being here right now.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed! Let me know what you thought down in the comments.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so in my defence the last comic I read with both Oliver and Roy in was a reread of Snowbirds Don't Fly so Oliver Queen's stella parenting skills are not exactly at the forefront of my mind right now.  
> This also includes Alfred and other Batfamily things.

‘Wait! I’m not ready to meet Alfred!’

‘What do you mean? Didn’t you already meet back when you hung out with Golden Boy?’

‘No! That’s the point! We always hung out at galas or out in the city or at mine or Wally’s places then later on at each others apartments but never at the manor during the day! I’ve heard stories Jay and I can handle your dad but can’t meet the scariest member of the Wayne clan wearing this!’ Roy gestured a little crazily at his ripped jeans, torn jacket and battered baseball cap. Jason only smiled, plucked the hat off his head, ran a hand through his untameable hair and smoothed the front of his jacket down.

‘There, all sorted. Try not to worry, Alfie’s gonna love you.’

Roy anxiously adjusted the front of his fringe, ‘but how do you knowww?’

Jason shot him a conspiratorial grin, ‘because everyone knows that I’m Alfie’s favourite so he has to at least pretend to like you a little bit just because I like you so it’s all gonna be fine I swear.’ With that he grabbed Roy’s hand and tugged him through the doors into the kitchen.

‘Hey Alfie, you in here?’

‘Escaping your family already Master Jason? Not entirely unexpected but I did think you’d last at least half an hour,’ the boys followed Alfred’s voice until they rounded some of the cupboards and could slide into a couple of bar stools across from where the butler was working.

‘I always knew you had the most faith in me Alfie, but I do have an excellent excuse for our escape! Bruce and Oliver Queen are a few moments from tearing each other’s throats out and seeing as our family likes to play the blame game all too much I figured it would be smarter to just remove myself from the equation entirely.’

‘And I suppose if Mister Queen is here then this young man behind you must be the infamous Mister Harper?’

Jason wrapped an arm around Roy and pulled him forward from where he had been attempting to blend into the background behind Jason, ‘Alfie, this is Roy. Roy meet Alfred.’

Roy quickly jumped forward and shook Alfred’s hand firmly, ‘it’s really great to finally meet you sir.’

‘None of that now, it’s Mister Pennyworth,’ Alfred did a slow examinatory sweep over Roy and then glanced over his shoulder at Jason who smiled weakly, ‘or Alfred if you prefer, you are the lad who gave our Master Dick a sofa to sleep on whenever he needed it are you not?.’

‘Yeah, yeah, that’s me.’

Alfred gave them both a small smile. Roy relaxed and immediately started grinning like an idiot in return as he stepped back to stand beside Jay, wrapping two hands around one of Jason’s in the process.

Alfred nodded to himself before turning back around to continue with the cooking, ‘I assume Mister Queen will be joining us for lunch then?’

‘Yeah sorry about that Alf, it’s a bit last minute.’

‘It’s no problem Master Jason, perhaps i shall put some sticks of french bread on the table incase anyone finds themselves in need of a weapon?’

Roy barked out a laugh at Jason’s straight-faced agreement.

‘Smells delicious Alfie but I guess we’d had better stop hiding and go see if anyone else is still alive?’

‘A wise decision sir and before you go, if I may say, I think that you and Mister Harper here have the potential to be a brilliant match.’

Jason mumbled his thanks into the floor while Roy turned his beam in the direction of the boy beside him even if he looked like he wanted to cross the room and hug Alfred until he suffocated. All too soon Roy felt himself being tugged back out of the room with a, ‘it was nice to meet you’, thrown over his shoulder.

\---

The tension in the main living room was thick enough to slice through with a kitchen knife when Jason and Roy entered. Oliver and Bruce were sat on opposite couches, pointedly not looking at each other, as Bruce aggressively read a newspaper and Oliver thumbed through his phone. Dick was sat on the third couch beside Tim, seemingly uncaring of the obvious aggravation that was radiating off of Bruce and insistently poking his little brother with his toes and laughing quietly as Tim grumbled good-humouredly while attempting to balance his coffee mug and look at his phone screen at the same time. Cass was sat by the unlit fireplace, rubbing the head of a sleeping Titus with one hand and reading a book Jason couldn’t see title of with the other, all whilst intermittently frowning in clear disapproval at both Bruce and Oliver. Damian was sat on a cushion on Titus’ other side loudly sharpening a katana as big as he was. Jason smirked as he thought about how Damian probably thought it made him look intimidating, it didn’t, it just made him look small. 

Refusing to give in to the pressure of the room Jason walked right in a flopped down hard onto the centre of the couch that Oliver was sitting on the side of. He might not weigh as much as Oliver did but he could use the force of his impact to cause Oliver to be shoved up into the air as he sat. The older man ended up needing to grab onto the arm of the sofa to avoid sliding towards Jason until their weights evened out again, if it had been satisfying before it became even more so when he registered Oliver’s disgruntled yelp of surprise quickly followed by a poorly hidden amused snort from Damian across the room. Feigning ignorance to Oliver's annoyed glare Jason stretched an arm out over the back of the other side of the couch creating a space for Roy to sit down in. Which he did, though not before he shot Jason a conspiratorial and incredibly mirthful grin.

Oliver and Bruce resumed glaring across at each other whenever they thought the other wasn’t looking and Roy shuffled in until he was pressed up against Jason’s side before they both pulled out their respective phones as well. Bruce turned to a new page in his newspaper with a unnecessarily loud swish of paper.  

Almost 30 minutes later, Oliver was, to no one but his own surprise, the first to crack.

‘So Timothy,’ due to his distraction at being addressed Tim was forced to choose between tipping his coffee all over himself and losing his phone to Dick’s possession. He retreated his coffee to a side table and looked on forlornly as Dick vacated to Bruce’s couch with his phone in hand, a gleeful smile on his face, ‘how have you been finding taking more responsibility within the company?’

Jason had to stifle a laugh at the look of absolute disdain that crossed Tim’s face at the question before he covered it over with an answered that couldn’t have sounded more premeditated if he’d tried, ‘oh you know how it goes Mr Queen, it’s great to be doing so much more but it gets very stressful at times.’

‘Ah yes I’m sure you put a lot of hours in at the office Timothy.’ Dick’s eyes flicked up for a moment as though examining Queen’s face for any trace of malicious intent but when he appeared to find none his gaze dropped back down to where he now appeared to be sending things from Tim’s phone to his own.

Tim’s smiled humourlessly, ‘I honestly don’t know how I’d survive without coffee considering how little sleep I get between work hours some nights.’

Tim’s public persona had always disturbed Jason to some extent considering its difference from the sharp minded but still far too self doubting kid he knew. This strange mesh between Timothy Drake-Wayne, 17 year old co-CEO of Wayne Enterprises, and Tim Drake, his kid brother, was unsettling to say the least.

Oliver’s next comment however got everyone’s attention.

‘Yes well that’s it how it goes when you work in a real company.’

Any tension the barely stitched together conversation had managed to dispel immediately returned plus interest and it all turned to ice. Every Wayne eye in the room immediately snapped onto Oliver who, to his credit, didn’t waver from his previous body language or facial expression and remained angled towards Tim despite the fact that the jab in his last comment couldn’t have been more clearly directed at Roy’s work in his workshop. Roy himself slid down miserably so he could press the side of his face into Jason’s side and probably ended up with most of his body hidden behind Jason’s bulk. Honestly, that was the only thing preventing Jason from lunging at Oliver with a strong punch first, never ask questions policy.

‘Oliver,’ Bruce’s voice was the soft threatening tone that made it very clear he was one push from losing his composure completely, that voice still terrified Jason (even if he’d never admit it), ‘I suggest you get out of my home now. Otherwise I will not be held accountable for any harm that comes to you in the near future.’

Oliver didn’t move from his seat on the couch but he did turn to face Bruce, a scowl on his face, ‘I’ll have you know that that boy is my son and I have every right to make whatever comments about his choice of work that I want to.’

‘I don’t care,’ Bruce put down his newspaper and stood up, his full height towering over Oliver where he remained seated, ‘I will not sit down and allow anyone to talk down to  _ my _ son’s chosen partner anywhere, let alone inside my own home. Get out.’

Oliver huffed loudly before standing up and grabbing his jacket from a nearby chair and striding out the room, without sparing Roy a glance. 

Roy’s face was flushed with embarrassment as he pushed himself back up to sit straight next to Jason, hyper aware of the fact that everyone in the room was watching him, ‘you really didn’t have to do that Mr Wayne.’

Bruce sat back down, ‘don’t worry about it Roy and please it’s Bruce, being called Mr Wayne by someone your age just makes me feel old.’

Before Roy could respond Bruce was serenaded with a chorus of:

‘Well you are getting up there old man.’

‘Come on Bruce we’ve all seen the black hair dye you think you have hidden in your bathroom.’

‘A lot of people at the company have asked me if you’re preparing for me to take over for you after your early retirement.’

‘You did call me everyone else’s names and Drake’s boyfriend’s before you managed to recall mine last week Father.’

Roy could only laugh along with the rest of them as Bruce put his head in his hands and massaged his temples. ‘You see,’ he gestured towards vaguely towards the correct side of the room with one hand, ‘this is why Cass is my favourite.’

This only led to them all watching as Cass carefully put the book she had been reading down in her lap and signing ‘you’re old,’ at Bruce before she picked it back up and carried on looking at the page.

‘Roy,’

‘Yeah?’

‘You’re my favourite now, come with me and I’ll get you some of Alfred’s cookies from my secret hiding place.’

Dick grabbed his chest with a scandalised expression, he leaned back in his seat and flung his other arm out wide. This reminded Tim of the fact that he still didn’t have his phone and he sprung at Dick, causing them both the topple over the back of the sofa.

Roy was all ready to laugh the comment off but then Bruce actually got out of his seat and made for the door gesturing for Roy to follow. He shot Jason a wide eyed look which the other boy returned before scrambling out of his seat and trailing after Bruce.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed, drop me a comment to let me know what you thought and if you have any advice!


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bat family centric chapter.  
> I've had a bit of a rough week, hence why this chapter took a bit longer to get out and honestly i can't promise the next one is going to come any quicker. It will come though so don't worry.

‘Dick give it back!’

‘No way! This stuff is gold, does he actually speak like he’s straight out of a 90s sitcom?’

‘Shut uuup.’

‘But seriously? It’s really important to me, I need to know.’

‘Please just give it back, you already have enough blackmail material to last you several lifetimes.’

‘Uh, fine.’

Dick eventually rolled off of Tim from where he had gotten him pinned to the floor with his knees on his arms so he could keep both hands free to continue to flick through Tim’s phone. Tim quickly sat up and snatched it back before flopping back up and onto the sofa with an rather undignified huff. 

Vaulting back over the sofa to sit next to him again, Dick reached out to ruffle Tim’s hair affectionately, ‘Don’t sulk too much, I saw your messages too and even I’ve got to admit, you’ve got game little brother.’

Tim protested by ducking his head and putting his feet down heavily onto Dick’s lap, not so accidently kicking him in the face on the way down. However this position didn’t last long as a grin cracked over his face and he swung his legs back around to sit straight, ‘Oh my god Jay, you have to see this!’

Jason snapped out of how he’d stayed staring out of the door, contemplating whether he should follow after Roy and Bruce or not, ‘What? What is it?’

‘Well it looks like I’m not the favourite son of Gotham anymore that’s for sure.’

‘Stop being so damn cryptic squirt?’ Jason got up and moved to their side of the room, immediately sitting down directly on top of Dick in order to get a look at Tim’s phone screen, huffing indignantly when Tim pulled it out of range.

‘Oi! Get the hell off me!’ Dick complained pushing at Jason’s back instantly, which only resulted in Jason increasing the amount of deadweight he was putting on Dick and muffling his brothers words into the back of the couch

Eventually Tim turned this phone around so that Jason could see the screen, it took him a moment to register that the centre photograph of the news article that he was being shown displayed of the front of the Manor with a group of people front and centre. As he snatched the phone out of Tim’s hands so he could focus better, he realised that the two main figures were him and Roy _holding hands_ while they stood together in front of Bruce with Dick just off to the side. It was obvious that the main focus of the picture was intended to be the complete lack of space between him and Roy (he really doesn’t remember them standing that close) even before he read the headline: **DOES IT COUNT AS SERIOUS WHEN YOU FLY TO THE OTHER END OF THE COUNTRY TO MEET THE FAMILY?**

How the hell had he managed to forget that those damn reporters looking for a scoop on Tim Drake’s latest arm piece had a clear view of the front of the house even after he had purposely brought them in via the side gate because he  _ knew  _ they would all still be camping out by the front?

‘Oh shit.’

Jason slid off of Dick and onto the floor so that he could rest his head in his hands without being jostled by his brother every few seconds. Dick immediately slid forward so he could look at the article over Jason’s shoulder. The actual body of text wasn’t too long. Just details and speculations about him and Roy, plus their respective more than controversial histories, split in the middle by a high quality photo of the two of them dancing together back at the gala. 

‘Aww Jay, i never thought i’d use the term ‘starry-eyed’ to describe you but after seeing that picture…’

‘You think that’s bad, you should’ve actually been there. He seriously could not take his eyes off of him the  _ entire _ night.’ 

Dick and Tim both cracked grins at the gagging sounds Damian started making from across the room.

‘I don’t know what you’re so happy about, this is all your fault Replacement! If you and Kon hadn’t gotten yourselves caught out by those reporters they never would have been out there in the first place. Uuuh and I just finally got the last of the stalkers off my back about wanting to know where I’ve been.’

Not having noticed when she stood up in that silent fashion of hers, Jason jumped a little when Cass sat down next to him. 

‘You’re being dramatic,’ he frowned downwards as she poked him on the nose.

Dick huffed a laugh, ‘when is he not?’

‘Oh yeah like you can talk Mr-why can’t we have aerial silks installed over the staircase so I can swing down to the front door?’

Dick flipped him off and just as Jason opened his mouth to retort with what would most likely be an insult he was cut off by Cass poking him again, this time in the cheek, ‘both stop being provoking.’

Jason instead settled for sticking his tongue out at Dick in a not unchildlike manor. He then chucked Tim back his phone and pulled his own out of his back pocket. Quickly throwing a google search of his and Roy’s names before clicking the news section, he glumly scrolled through the already vast array of articles displaying various angles of similar images of him and Roy out the front of Wayne manor. This literally couldn't get any worse. 

He slumped down even further with a grown when he came across one article that contained grainy photos of what was clearly Roy backing him up against his car at the airport in a definitely not platonic way. Okay, maybe it could get worse. At least the small collection of airport photos were pretty bad quality and taken from a long distance away so there was no way for people to be 100% sure that it was actually him and Roy. Even the article it was part of was functioning more on speculation instead of concrete fact, perhaps he could hope the pictures would disappear within the internet before anyone else decided they were worth running.

If there was one thing that made the tabloid reporters more hungry for information than one of the Prince of Gotham’s sons literally coming back from the dead, it was the possibility of a fling between the previously estranged sons of two of the richest men in America. Oh yeah, Jason was going to have a great few months, say goodbye to being able to discreetly apply to SCU without anyone noticing. 

Dick rested his chin on Jason’s shoulder, ‘relax a bit Little Wing. It could be worse. You’re already out to the public, which at least reduces the shit storm to half mast.’

Jason shuddered internally remembering when he had been 14 and Dick had been caught making out with some random guy, whilst holding a drink he was clearly too young to legally be having, in a gay club just outside the Narrows. The mess that had followed had forced Dick to literally have to battle his way to get into the police precinct in Bludhaven every morning for weeks, as well as being benched from field work due to being unable to go anywhere without a large following trotting along at his heels. It had been a living nightmare as the entire family was harassed over the issue 24-7.

Jason himself had come out accidentally during a live interview after he had first ‘returned from the dead’ and hadn’t quite been prepared for all the different types of questions he would be asked. He’d been thrown off balance by the sexuality question and, before he could get his thoughts together, had blurted out something along the lines of not really being sure but he definitely wasn’t opposed-. He had quickly caught himself with a hand clamped over his own mouth, though not before the information was out there. The aftermath had been stressful but nothing like Dick’s explosion. Mostly just uncomfortably intrusive follow up questions in different interviews and a prolonged public interest in his social life, nothing he, and Bruce’s stellar PR team, couldn’t handle.

‘Yeah I know,’ Jason sighed and ran a hand through his hair, ‘you just know how much I hate being the centre of the public’s attention.’

Dick made a motion that implied he wanted to hug tighter from where he was sat behind him and he continued when Jason made no move to stop him, ‘if you want I could always do something even more scandalous to get their attention?’

‘Yeah like there is anything that you haven’t already done that’ll shock the press that much.’

‘What’s that meant to mean?’

‘Seriously Dickie? Has the time you literally hung off Lex Luthor’s chandelier and sung Abba just because Wally dared you to mysteriously slipped your mind?’ 

Dick leaned back against the sofa with a huff, ‘it was funny.’

Tim glanced up from his phone momentarily, ‘my video evidence suggests Luthor didn’t agree.’

‘Yeah well for me being disliked by Lex is more of a win than a loss. Especially when he has to keep welcoming me into events because it would be rude to turn Bruce Wayne’s son away when he shows up on the door.’

‘Oh yeah because we all know how much everyone likes Richie Rich.’

‘You know I hate being called that Jay.’

‘Doesn’t matter anyway because I’m pretty sure Luthor hates me the most. You should’ve seen his face the last time he walked into a meeting at WE and realised he was going to be dealing with me and not a random member of the board. I thought he was going to tip the desk.’

‘Tt, a measly offering as usual Drake,’ Damian chimed in from across the room, ‘naturally it is I who Luthor has the highest distaste for or do none of you recall the time that I completely dismissed and proceeded to prove wrong his theorised solution regarding the ideal way to solve this desolate country’s countless political and inequality issues, when I was 12.’

Jason grinned, at least one thing this conversation was doing was taking his mind of the news, ‘I think we can all agree that Lex really really hates us all.’

Tim nodded enthusiastically, ‘hey Cass do you remember that time a few years back when he was going to be making that big speech about a grand reveal at Luthor Corp and you tripped him up on his way to the stage so he fell over, got a nose bleed and then got blood all over that women’s white dress? That was pretty sweet.’

‘He called Bruce stupid in front of important people, deserved it.’

Sometimes Jason found himself a little in awe of Cass. 

It was just then that Roy walked back into the room, alone this time, and immediately had all of their attention as they fell silent in anticipation. Roy walked over and sat on the floor next to Jason on the opposite side to Cass, his expression a mix of slightly dazed and a little terrified.

‘Oh god, he didn’t threaten you did he,’ Jason moved to climb to his feet,’I’m gonna kill him.’

Roy grabbed his arm and pulled him back down, ‘no, no he didn’t threaten me. He was nice.’

That made Jason freeze, ‘I’m sorry I think I misheard you.’

The fear in Roy’s eyes became more apparent and he shook his head distantly, ‘he took me to his study, gave me cookies and told me he was so glad you had found someone like me. Jaybird, Jay he smiled at me.’

Jason blinked. That was not what he had been expecting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is no real reason for why the bat kids argued over who Lex hates the most, it just kind of happened and i thought it was funny.  
> Let me know who you thought won in the argument because i never worked out a way for an argument like that to have a defined ending, especially with wanting Roy to come back into the room! 
> 
> Thank you so much for reading and for the continued support. It really is amazing to see people actually enjoying the stuff i'm creating.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really enjoyed writing this chapter so I hope you enjoy reading it!

‘Wait was it his public smile? Like the one he uses for the press?’

‘No, no, definitely not. I don’t know, I’ve never seen him look like that before. Oh my god Jay what if he was faking it so I won’t suspect anything before he actually kills me?’

‘Don’t be silly,’ Dick grinned down at Roy, highly amused, ‘Bruce doesn’t kill, only badly maims and sometimes commits acts that kind of negate the no killing rule because there’s no way he could have known no one would end up dead.’  

Roy didn’t even try to cover up his extremely alarmed expression, ‘how on earth do you even know that?’

‘He has a massive family and is very protective-’

‘And has a dark history of joyriding and knife throwing. Alfred has sent me to come collect you all for lunch so if you will…’

They all looked across as Bruce vacated his spot in the doorway, when Jason looked back again Roy had gotten considerably paler (if that was possible given the current situation), ‘did he just say knife throwing?’

‘Fucking rich people hobbies,’ Jason muttered under his breath earning him a chuckle from Tim and a further widening of eyes from Roy. He quickly climbed to his feet and threw a arm around, the already standing, Roy’s shoulders, ‘nope I didn’t hear anything. Now what do you say we get lunch over with, so me and you can finally get out of here?’

Roy sagged against him, ‘yeah, yeah that’s good. Like no offence or anything but your family is almost as insane as mine.’

Dick walked up and slung his arm around Roy’s opposite shoulder, completely ignoring the glare Jason threw him at the interruption, he grinned in that sunny way that only he could manage, ‘oh Roy, you have no idea.’ 

\---

Lunch was mostly uneventful. Well uneventful by Wayne standards anyway. Most of Damian’s food did end up either with Titus, who was sat under the table, or in Tim’s lap. Roy had starred in fear as Bruce straight up ignored the fact that Damian and Tim were trying the claw their way over the top of the table in order to get to each other, instead choosing to continue the quiet conversation he was having with Cass and leaving Dick to absentmindedly hold onto the collar of Damian’s shirt while he thumbed through a magazine with his other hand. Jason ended up having to place an entire arm across Tim’s chest and grip the other side of his chair just to keep him in place, not that that took too much effort- the kid was tiny. So yeah, just a regular meal at the Wayne’s. Jason really kind of felt sorry for which ever kid Bruce was going to bring into the fold next, they would really have no idea what they were getting themselves into.

By the time Tim and Damian had calmed down and they had all finished dessert Jason was well and truly ready to leave and not come back to the manor for weeks. Yeah he was officially part of the family again and everything but there was only so much he could handle before needing a break. The second after Alfred had cleared their plates and so dismissing them, Jason grabbed Roy by the hand and pulled him to his feet.

‘So how do you feel about getting out of here?’ He muttered under his breath so the rest of the family couldn’t hear.

‘Honestly that sounds great but I really want to make a good impression and I doubt running off as soon as lunch is finished is going to do that.’

‘Come on the old man can wait, I want to show you the city.’

‘This isn’t my first time in Gotham Jaybird.’

‘Yeah I know, but I want to show you my side of Gotham. The Gotham I grew up in, not the glass house the rich live in.’

Roy grinned, ‘now that sounds a bit more like it, fine, you’ve won me over.’

‘Well that took a lot less time than I was expecting rich boy.’

‘You’re just as much of a trust fund kid as I am Jay, and maybe I just have a weakness for boys with pretty smiles who ask me to run off to the city with them?’

‘Well I guess I’m in luck then-’ They were interrupted by a loud cough from nearby that caused Jason to realise just how close him and Roy were standing. Looking up he flushed deeply when he saw the entire family gawking at them, aside from Damian who was trying to fight off the hands Dick had held over his eyes, from their various places in the room. 

‘Uh, yeah, we’re just gonna, were gonna go. See you guys later, bye.’ Jason gripped Roy’s hand tighter and they both sprinted out the room and all the way down to the garage, not stopping until they’d reached Jason’s bike. They stood and stared at each other for a moment before breaking and collapsing into laughter.

‘Oh my god there is no way that just happened?’

‘Did you see Bruce’s face? He looked like he was about to throw a knife at me!’

‘I can never go back there ever again, that was awful. Dickface will never let me hear the end of it?’

‘Do you think they could hear what we were saying?’

‘I don’t think they needed to.’

As Jason wiped the tears that had gathered at the corners of his vision away, the thought suddenly struck him that he genuinely could not remember the last time he’d laughed like this. Smirked, grinned and even the occasional dry chuckle but, the last time he’d fallen into actual belly-aching laughter? He had no idea. Jason couldn’t stop grinning to himself the entire time he fetched Roy a spare helmet and they whizzed out of the manor together, the wrap of Roy’s arms around his waist and the chest pressed up against his back warming his entire body despite the chill of the wind whipping past them.

\---

‘Dude where are we even going? Is there anything here that’s not high rise flats or crummy bars?’

‘You don’t get to insult Gotham’s crummy bars because we  _ met  _ in a crummy Star City bar, also we’re almost there, it’s just around the corner.’

Jason saw Roy frown at him but he didn’t protest further, he knew that it looked weird because the Narrows was by far the most built up area of Gotham. The almost complete lack of sunlight meaning anything even attempting to grow there dried out before it could even be called alive. 

They’d left Jason’s bike behind in a safer part of town, if any part of Gotham could ever be called safe, because it was Jason’s favourite one and honestly he really didn’t feel like coming back to find the wheels missing again, no matter how hypocritical that made him. He’d then dragged Roy on foot through an intricate maze of alleyways and backstreets until they reached the right place.

Jason couldn’t help but smirk as he pulled Roy around the corner of yet another block of flats and then watched the utter confusion spread over his boyfriend’s face at the change of scene. Laid out in front of them was a small, but significant, clearing in the buildings that left just enough space for a half basketball court and hoop (no net), a small area of extra clear floor space and an metal awning sticking out from the side of one of the four surrounding buildings to cover over about half the area. 

This in itself was unexpected in the Concrete jungle that made up the back end of Gotham but the truly unusual site was the sheer number and range of children that were present in the clearing. Todays group were incredibly varied, everything from small children hanging onto the walls, as if afraid of leaving the cover behind, to kids that looked to be edging on 18/19 who were mucking about with a well worn but still functional basketball on the half-court.

Jason looked away from the group to grin back across at Roy and watched as the other boy opened his mouth to ask the questions that were no doubt overflowing in his head. Unfortunately, he didn’t get the chance as before more than a ‘What…’ could get out Jason found himself being tackled from behind.

‘Jayjay! Did you bring presents?’

Jason automatically hitched the tiny body higher up on his back and immediately felt small hands grip his hair painfully to enable them to pull the figure up to sit onto his shoulders, he tried not to wince too hard.

Despite the less than gentle ‘attack’, Jason couldn’t help but smile softly as he replied, ‘hey Diane, how’s your mum been holding up?’ 

‘Oh ya know. She has the good days and the bad days, but, but last week she was okay for long enough that we walked down to the park and got ice cream from the truck man before her back starting hurting too much and I had to help her back home. I got to have two scoops of chocolate with sprinkles, it was amazing!’ The little girl giggled and she started to drum her hands against Jason’s forehead in her excitement.

Feeling a tugging on his pant leg, Jason looked down to see a small boy looking up at him with wide eyes whilst chewing on the sleeve of his shirt. He bent down carefully, so as not to dislodge the girl on his shoulders, and carefully ran a hand over the boy’s forehead, pushing back the flopping bangs that hung hazardously downwards. 

‘Hey C, you doing okay, you and your big bro been getting enough to eat?’ The kid, who couldn’t have been older than 5, didn’t say anything, just nodded his head slowly and continued to chew on his sleeve intently. A moment later, a taller boy appeared at C’s shoulder, panic in his eyes until he got a look at Jason’s face and visibly relaxed, until his eyes flicked behind him and he tensed again, taking his younger brother by the hand quickly.

‘Hey Mister Wayne, who’s your friend?’

Jason turned around to see Roy standing awkwardly behind him, one hand still gripping one of the duffle bags Jason had insisted they needed to pick up from his apartment on the way and the other fiddling with zipper on his jacket. He reached out a hand and pulled Roy up to his side so that the kids could see him properly.

‘This is Roy Harper, my boyfriend. Roy this is Finn, his little brother C and,’ he gestured vaguely upwards, ‘Diane.’

Finn looked Roy up and down with a serious expression that could probably have rivalled Damian’s at the same age before he reached some point of approval, nodded to himself, and stuck out a hand, which Roy took and shook solemnly. Jason felt an unexplainable warmth spread out through his chest at the sight, which had nothing to do with the fact that Diane was repeatedly swinging her legs into his ribs whilst shouting, ‘Jason has a boyfriend! Jason has a boyfriend!’ over and over again at the top of her lungs.

Apparently, a number of the other kids had been wary of the unknown adult in their midst and had been listening out for Jason to confirm his safety, for a 14ish year old girl immediately stood up on an upturned crate to yell, ‘all clear!’ before Roy and Jason found themselves swamped with tiny people.

Jason made a point of remembering all the kids he could by name and asked after all of those who he had managed to coax living situations out of, whilst also paying as much attention as he could to the newbies in the group. Soon he managed to defer the attention from himself and onto the large bags he’d brought along full of canned food, clothing, a number of handheld toys as well as a brand new basketball which he chucked across to the group of older kids who had been hanging back so the smaller ones could get to the more important things. After all the stuff had been dealt out as equally as could be managed he carefully disentangled himself from the group and headed across to where he spotted Roy helping a boy roll up the cuffs of a green long-sleeved shirt that Jason had lifted along with a few other bits from a pile of things Damian had been planning to get rid of. After the kid had run off, a wide grin on his face as he stuck his arms out like he was pretending to fly, Jason guided Roy over to one of the alleyways sticking off to the side so they were out of sight.

‘I’m sorry for dragging you here unwarned, I just wasn’t sure how many would be here and thought a small group might be a nice surprise.’

Roy frowned slightly, ‘I won’t say I wasn’t a bit shocked Jaybird but this place, anyone can see it’s important to you and that means it’s important to me.’

‘When I was, when I was out on the streets, after I lost my mum. That winter I was so lost, I had no idea what to do when the snow started falling, I was lucky I wasn’t completely skin and bones at that point and the weather wasn’t so bad so I got through.’ Jason blinked hard at the ground, ‘If B hadn’t picked me up when he did, I’m certain I would have died if we’d had a bad one that year. Most of these kids have a home of some sort, but a spot like this would have saved me so much back then, I’d be betraying myself if I didn’t try and do something about it now I have the money.’

He hadn’t even realised that a couple of tears were sliding down his face until Roy was stepping forwards and wiping under his eyes with a thumb, ‘Hey, hey, you’re doing a good thing here Jaybird. Those kids, anyone with half a brain can see that they adore you and thank you. Thank you for bringing me here, for trusting me with this. Now come on, let’s get back over there before we get dragged back, I bet I can kick your ass at 1 on 1, if you’re brave enough that is.’

Jason returned Roy’s smirk lightning quick, ‘Oh you’re on Harper, but I warn you now, you have no idea who you’re going up against.’

Roy crowded him up against the wall, grinning, ‘oh is that so?’ he leaned forward until his mouth was right by Jason ear, ‘winner takes all?’ 

Jason’s breath caught in his throat and he somehow managed to get out a half smooth sounding, ‘something like that,’ he was incredibly glad they were sheltered from the kids eyes in the alley because there was no way he’d be able to pull away as everything that was Roy enveloped him. He pushed back, making the kiss far more desperate than the fleeting touches they’d shared before as he pushed a hand through Roy’s hair and held his back off the wall as Roy pushed the palm of his hand flat against Jason’s back under his shirt. By the time they broke apart, they were both breathless but smiling and Jason felt so fantastically alive as they fixed themselves back up and headed back out into the courtyard, hands gripped tightly between them. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you thought generally down in the comments but also
> 
> QUESTION: If I was to include Wally West in this story, which I want to, would you guys rather he be there as one of Dick and Roy's best friends, one of Roy's best friends and Dick's boyfriend, or to just not include him at all. Please let me know what you want as I am happy with any and will be going with the majority so as the most people as possible are happy!
> 
> Otherwise hope you enjoyed the chapter.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I smashed my word target for each chapter and I'm posting earlier than the last few chapters have been, I don't know what's going on!
> 
> Enjoy!

Roy ended up winning at 1 on 1 but only, Jason insisted, because he wanted to kids to approve of him and the direct way for that to happen was for him to beat Jason in front of them all, so he’d definitely let him win. It hadn’t really mattered though because they were both promptly beaten at a round of 2 on 2 by a couple of the older kids. Which reminded Jason that he really needed to make sure he sat down and spoke with Liv about how her hunt for a college scholarship was going and if there was anyone who needed a kick up the ass from the Wayne’s so they would get themselves down to her games. He was going to give as many of these kids the education he almost missed out on if it was the last thing he did. 

They then spent most of the rest of the day sat in the shade with the younger kids. There was a moment just as the sun was disappearing behind the top of the nearest high rise building, meaning the little clearing would soon only be lit by the flickering light of the single corner streetlamp, that Jason was certain burned itself into his memory for ever. It was simple enough, just Roy with this tiny little kid sat in his lap and a couple of others spread around him as they read a book together, but the whole world felt so quiet in that moment and Jason just wanted to keep the memory of that feeling so badly in the case that he ever hit rock bottom again and needed something to drag him back out.

As the younger kids that had homes started to disappear, Jason found himself unable to go more than 30 seconds without having a child running up to hug him goodbye. About half of them even went up and latched onto Roy, something the redhead seemed to have absolutely no idea how to deal with other than to hug back and glare at Jason’s amused expression over the kids shoulders. Eventually, they found themselves walking back in the direction of Jason’s bike, hands intertwined and Jason’s jacket wrapped around Roy’s shoulders because the idiot had thought it would be a good idea to be in Gotham after sundown in an actual sleeveless hoodie. 

‘I know it’s something but every time I see those kids I always regret not being able to do more for them.’

‘Jaybird, what you do for those kids, never feel bad for doing a thousand times more than most people with your money do, hell from what I saw today most of those kids would be dead or mixed up in the gangs if it wasn’t for you.’

‘I know but there is so many struggling kids in this city. I’m just always so fucking angry about the fact that nobody cares enough to do anyth-’

Jason broke off at the distraction of a hooded figure turning into the currently dark and empty alleyway, his hands hidden in his jacket in a way that, Jason had learnt very fast while on the streets, meant he should be avoided at all costs. Trying not to panic and seriously hoping that he was just being paranoid, Jason quickened his pace a little a gestured back with his eyes in the hope that Roy would catch onto his thought process. Fuck, he knew they should’ve left earlier to get out of the alleys and onto the main streets quicker, this is fucking Gotham, a child would know they were just asking for something to happen.

They were nearing the end of the alley and its exit onto something that could actually qualify as a street when two figures wearing ski masks along with nondescript black clothing turned the corner, effectively cornering them. Jason swore up a storm under his breath just as Roy muttered a, ‘please tell me Bruce made you take those self defence classes that I skipped out on for 3 years and am currently really regretting not going to.

Before Jason had a chance to reply one of the pair in front of them flicked out a switchblade and spoke up in a voice that was clearly being changed to cover its usual sound but all Jason could pick up on was that it was most likely a woman, ‘Mr Wayne, Mr Queen, we are going to have to ask you to come for a ride with us and please do be careful we’d hate for anybody to trip and get hurt.’

Jason’s stomach dropped and he felt Roy tense up beside him when they turned around only for the guy behind them to reveal he was also wearing a ski mask and heavily tinted black sunglasses to reveal a similar knife that was quickly pointed at them. Jason was just thinking about formulating a reply when the woman spoke up again, ‘and please hurry up because I’d really hate to end up embarrassing myself by trying to stab you and not being able to do anything because a certain someone’s older brother refused to let us use real knives despite the amount he has kept in his stupidly large house.’

Okay now Jason was just confused, in his experience, and he had experience, this was not how kidnappings were supposed to go. His confusion only grew when the guy next to the woman suddenly doubled over cackling, pulling his ski mask off to reveal a mess of bright red hair and an annoyed whine of, ‘Donnnnnnna,’ came from behind them.

Jason looked around and only just physically stopped himself from jolting backwards in shock when he saw Dick standing there, now sans mask and sunglasses, pouting at the pair on Jason and Roy’s other side. Seeing as Jason’s brain was having a hard time converting from who am I going to punch to what the hell is my big brother doing in Crime Alley in a ripped up hoodie and that’s my jacket, it was Roy who caught up first. He dropped his head into his hands and groaned loudly before bitterly identifying the still doubled over man whose face Jason had yet to see but he really should’ve guessed, ‘Wally West I swear to god if this is you getting back at me for the time I pretended to be serial killer on Halloween and made you drop half your candy in a puddle I’m going to kill you.’

Wally finally straightened up just as Donna Troy pulled off her ski mask to let her hair fall back over her shoulders, a grin on her face as she looked at them both. 

‘You know that’s why I had to do it Harper, also you know I just had to see if it was true that you’re dating my boyfriend’s baby brother,’ he stepped between them and slung an arm around Dick’s shoulder, kissing him on a still pouting cheek, ‘and don’t worry babe, we got them good. I’m sure Tim has the pictures to prove it.’ Jason almost walked off right there and then when Tim dropped down out of a nearby fire escape with his phone in his hand and skipped over, a massive grin on his face. 

‘You know I did, and you don’t get to look at me like that Jay, it was my turn to get you after you got spent an entire week ‘accidentally’ spilling every single cup of coffee I got my hands on,’ his smile dropped away in an unsettling instant, ‘you knew that meant war.’

Okay Jason couldn’t argue with that logic, it’s what he got for getting himself taken in to a family like the Wayne’s, ‘oh I am so gonna get you all back so good for this pipsqueak.’

‘Seconded,’ came the call from Roy beside him, Jason realised that he was still holding Roy’s hand in a crushing grip and subtly loosened his hold so that just their pinky fingers were hooked together.

Wally immediately dramatically hung off Dick, who grinned down at him, as he cried out, ‘Oh no! There’s two of them! How could we let this happen?’

Tim only shrugged without looking up from his phone, ‘I don’t care what they do, this was totally worth it. Some of these pictures are actual gold and I want to get them framed so I can use them as Christmas presents.’

Donna meanwhile just smirked while obviously seeming quietly confident that Jason wouldn’t dare to do anything even remotely similar to offending her, she was right, not that he’d ever admit it.

Ever the parent of the group Dick wrapped his arm around Wally’s shoulders and started to manoeuvre them all towards the street, which was probably a good idea before they all actually got mugged or kidnapped for real. They were still in Gotham after all. 

‘So where’s your bike then Jay? We can meet you two in the car and then all head back up to the manor together?’

‘No.’

‘What do you mean no?’

‘I mean me and Roy are staying at my apartment tonight so no,’ he ignored the eyebrows that Wally was wiggling at Roy and Donna’s rolling eyes, ‘you guys can head off now so we can plan our revenge in peace.’

Donna only shrugged before walking past them and patting Jason on the shoulder as she went, ‘planning your revenge is  _ not  _ a euphemism I would recommend using again kid,’ causing him to blush furiously in not very Jason-like fashion and making both Wally and Dick grin uncontrollably as they too waved goodbye and walked off, swinging their joined hands between them.

‘Your friends are the worst.’

‘Dude that was your brothers.’

‘Stillllll, you’ve known them all longer.’

‘You’ve known Tim longer.’

‘Yeah by like a month. You knew Dick and Wally before they could go 30 seconds without one of them falling into each other's arms.’

‘Babe I survived third wheeling through the pining period where Wally over-compensated by flirting with every girl in a 5 miles radius and Dick did everything he could to make him look like a dork in front of said girls, that is really not something to be jealous of.’

‘I honestly have no idea how the public still have no idea they’re dating.’

‘Wally is literally the loudest person I’ve ever met. I think he reminded me about it literally everyday for a month after they first got together.’

‘How has he kept his mouth shut?’

‘Maybe your dad is bribing him?’

‘That is… actually what might be happening, though equal chance he’s just threatening him.’

‘Honestly that was meant to be a joke but it’s kind of more reasonable than him just being able to stop himself from saying something on his own. Your dad is terrifying.’

‘Nah he’s a big softy on the inside.’

‘Sure, I’ll believe that when I see it. Maybe Dick is just so good in bed he’s using that to keep Wally from yelling it from the rooftops, I feel like that’s the kind of thing that would distract Walls whenever he felt like he was gonna spill.’

‘Well you tell me.’

‘Duuuude do not talk about the time I slept with your brother when we are literally holding hands right now.’

‘You’re the one who brought up my  _ older brother’s  _ sex life in the first place.’

‘We really need to stop talking about this.’

‘Agreed’.

Jason looked over to see Roy smiling at him and grinned back before breaking eye contact and looking down, just focusing on the simplicity of them walking together and the way Roy looked in his jacket before they reached his bike a few minutes later.

\---

Upon reaching Jason’s apartment it suddenly occurred to him that he wasn’t sure of the last time a person who wasn’t Tim or Dick had been in here, even though he was sure that Cass and many Damian had been over for a short time at least once, and that he was fairly certain that no one who wasn’t family actually knew his address. Aside from that time he had scribbled it on a form so he was allowed to get that job at the library where they paid in cash so they didn’t bother to check that Jason Peter Todd was now Jason Peter Wayne and he wouldn’t get unwarranted attention for being Bruce Wayne’s kid.

He also realised that someone who wasn’t used to seeing the way that Jason lived would probably interpret the level of tidy he kept everything in to be something bordering on compulsive. Jason wasn’t sure if he actually had OCD or not, even if he definitely got terrifying intrusive thoughts at times, or whether his need for everything he owned to be immaculate was just a PTSD related need for control or something and he really hoped Roy didn’t ask any uncomfortable questions. Needless to say he was relieved when Roy just slipped his shoes off and hung up Jason’s jacket without comment over the extreme tidiness. 

Thirdly, it struck that first impressions of his apartment probably tricked Roy into thinking he was an actual functional human. They split half a cold pizza and some potato chips for dinner but at least he was able to produce a box of Alfred’s brownies that he had been saving for dessert. 

Mostly he was just disappointed that he hadn’t thought ahead enough to do something really nice for the first proper dinner that him and Roy were having together but at least, he thought, as Roy took him by the hand and curled up against him on the couch, he had let Bruce move him out of that crummy apartment in the Narrows last year and he was able to have Roy to stay in a half classy place. 

After a while of watching some mindless documentary about some prison somewhere in Europe, Jason had been more focused on running his hands through Roy’s hair than actually watching, Roy had rolled onto his back so he could see Jason and groaned loudly.

‘What’s up?’

Roy sighed and bonelessly sunk further into the couch, ‘I really wanted to ask if I could fuck you tonight because you looked so hot when you were just in that tight t-shirt after playing basketball but it’s been such a long day and I’m so tired.’

Jason grinned lazily and also let himself be enveloped further by the coach cushions, ‘I see your dilemma, you looked pretty damn fuckable yourself.’

Roy turned and smushed his face into Jason’s shoulder so his next sentence of, ‘you should be banned from talking like that when I can’t even move my toes,’ was almost indecipherable. 

Huffing loudly in amusement, Jason scooped Roy up into his arms and stood up from the sofa, ‘from my experience you will look just as fuckable in the morning so why don’t we both go to bed and then have another shot tomorrow?’

‘Yeah, okay, I didn’t know you could pick me up like this, that’s hot too.’

Jason chuckled fondly as Roy sleepily pulled on the pyjama pants and loose t-shirt that were thrown in his face before passing out almost immediately after his head hit the pillow, a quality Jason definitely envied. Though he did find that he fell asleep a whole lot faster than normal when he could hear the soft in-out rhythm of Roy’s breathing from the other side of the bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Batfamily and Titans prank wars are beyond extreme in every universe and that's just the truth.
> 
> Let me know what you thought of this chapter down in the comments because I always love to know how people react!


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Completely a JayRoy chapter, we learn some more about the details of Roy's backstory in this one.

‘Jesus fuck Jaybird, that was incredible.’

Jason grinned lazily upwards from his position resting against Roy’s chest, held snug by the arm currently slung around his shoulders, his entire body still buzzing all the way down to his toes.

‘Not too bad yourself Roytoy,’ he gently ran his hands across Roy’s chest, up along the solid muscles of his shoulder and down his extended arm. He felt Roy tense minutely underneath him when his fingers ghosted over the track marks scattered across the crook of his elbow and down the veins of his forearm. He quickly moved his hand and settled it back onto Roy’s chest.

‘You never spoke about it, I don’t blame you because I never have either, but all those things they said, Oliver said, about you and nobody ever got to hear your side of things.’

Roy’s voice was bordering on hostile when he spoke, ‘Nothing to tell. I was a fucking lonely kid. Shit happens when you’re father figure starts spending months at a time abroad at the same time both your best friends decide they’re gonna move away. I’m clean now. That’s it.’

‘I never said you had to and I can’t tell you I know exactly what that feels like, but I do know what it feels like to have someone take one look at your scars and think they know everything about you.’ Jason didn’t realise how much he had tensed until Roy started to run his hands through his hair and rub his shoulder until he relaxed again.

‘Yeah Jay, I know. I just haven’t really spoken to anyone about it since rehab and I’m not sure I’m ready for that yet. It’s still so fucking difficult everyday, how easy it’d be to just walk into a bar and just order a drink. I feel like reliving it all would make it damn near impossible. The nightmares are hard enough to deal with right now.’

Jason found himself focusing on the chair pulled out from his desk and how his jacket and Roy’s stupid sleeveless hoodie were slung across the back of it, side by side. ‘You have nightmares?’

‘Yeah, mostly when I’m alone though, last night was okay.’

‘Good.’

They slipped into silence for a while, Jason listened to the regular thumping of Roy’s heart through one ear whilst also being able to hear the Gotham day shift switching in. The only real difference between the night and day people in Gotham was that those that were out in the day at least attempted to throw up a front to cover their criminal activities, so that was something. 

He eventually pulled himself up out of the warmth of the bed with reluctance and headed for the shower. He hadn’t bothered to shut the door behind him so it wasn’t exactly a surprise when, after he had gotten out, Roy stepped up behind him and began to nip at his neck before he had even had a chance to wrap the towel in his hand around his waist. He eagerly cooperated as Roy turned him and pushed him back against the wall, taking the towel from him and dropping it on the floor before lowering himself to his knees.

Jason was left boneless yet again as he blinked into his wardrobe to pick out some clothes for the both of them to wear before they could get back to the manor to pick up Roy’s things.

They ended up heading out to a diner down the road because it turns out they had eaten the last of the food in Jason’s house the night before, he really needed to work on being a functioning person who didn’t just rely on pizza and ready made meals dropped off by Alfred to survive, especially since he actually missed cooking. The place was nice, for Gotham, and Jason had been there enough times that the older waitress smiled brightly at him when she spotted the two of them sliding into a booth by the window and headed straight over, despite the fact that the majority of the tables in the place were currently filled and still waiting to have orders taken.

Roy had black coffee, Jason a hot chocolate and they opted to split a plate of chocolate chip pancakes with strawberries. Mostly because Jason insisted that these were the best this side of the Atlantic and Roy just had to try them so that he could see that there was no way any place in Star City could do better. 

Upon its arrival, Roy immediately downed his entire mug of coffee so that it could be refilled straight away. Once he had drained the second one, this time a little more gradually, he placed the mug off to the side slightly and laid both forearms down on the table, looking at Jason intently.

‘So I don’t know about Donna but I have the best idea for how we can get Tim, Dick and Wally back for yesterday.’

Jason felt a shark like grin spread across his face, ‘do tell?’

‘Okay so you know you mentioned how Damian has been getting really good at that fake injury makeup stuff and it’s super convincing?’

Jason’s grin widened, he liked where this was going.

‘You think you’d be any good at doing that horror movie thing of playing dead but waking up at the last moment to make the person looking at you shit themselves? Think you could convince the kid to help us out?’

Okay so maybe it was a little cruel, but to be fair they were the ones who decided it would be okay to pretend to kidnap the guy who spent the worst years of his life being held hostage. So they were kind of asking for it.

‘Sure, we’ll just tell him that Tim and Wally are the targets and play down Golden Boys involvement, he’ll be first in line then.’

‘Nice, I say we wait a while. Hit them when they’re least expecting it.’

‘Sounds solid, now I swear to god you have to try these pancakes before they go cold or I’m gonna kill you for real.’

\---

Roy was heading back to Star early the next morning. He had to get back in the workshop because he had promised a customer that he would have their cabinet fixed by the day after and he’d spent too much time getting wrapped up in an independent project last week, he had barely even gotten started yet. So Jason decided to try and show him some of the more attractive parts of Gotham throughout the morning in an attempt to help him see past Gotham’s, kind of true, grey stereotype. Eventually, they ended up sitting side by side on a bench in Gotham Park. Roy had bought them both ice-cream, it was nice despite the chilly air that was almost always present in the shade in Gotham.

‘So where do you think Oliver went after B kicked him out?’ Jason asked, finishing off his ice cream and leaning into Roy’s shoulder.

‘Oh yeah, I think he sulked for a bit before texting me to say he was getting his jet flown over so he could get back.’ Roy’s laugh was dry and utterly devoid of his usual amusement, ‘you know what’s stupid? I actually thought he was finally getting past it all and working to be better. Hell maybe he is, I don’t know, I just feel stupid for ever thinking things were gonna genuinely heal between us.’

Jason smiled sadly even though Roy couldn’t see his face, ‘maybe it will, one day. Look at me and B, shit ain’t perfect but we’ve got a good thing going, even if I do still want to punch him half the time.’

‘Who would we be without our shitty father figures right?’

‘Exactly.’

‘You want some of my ice-cream before it melts all over my hand?’

Jason smirked as he sat back up and leaned forward, subtly crowding Roy against the back of the bench, ‘you just like seeing me lick things Harper.’

When Roy didn’t respond beyond not so subtly flicking his eyes down to Jason’s mouth and back up again. Jason leaned forward slowly, looking for all the world as though he was leaning in for a kiss, but at the last moment he grabbed Roy’s face in one hand so he could turn it sideways and plant a great long lick all the way up the side, scratching his tongue on day-old stubble as he went. The completely aghast look on Roy’s face as he turned back around had Jason leaning back to the other side of the bench, his sides creasing. He only laughed harder when Roy stuck his tongue out childishly and used the sleeve of his borrowed hoodie to wipe away the spit grumpily.

‘You’re not as funny as you think you are Jaybird,’ Jason could see that Roy was working hard to cover up a smile of his own though, it was breaking through every few seconds before being covered up again.

‘Fuck you Royston, I’m hilarious,’ he sidled back up the bench until he was pressed against Roy’s side again as his boyfriend sulked adorably and stubbornly faced the opposite direction, finishing his ice-cream in a dramatically grumpy fashion that any Wayne would be proud of. 

‘You can’t stay mad at me, you’re too pretty for that.’

Roy couldn’t stop the reluctant smirk that spread out across his face, successfully flattening any lingering worry Jason had that he had actually offended him, ‘Oh is that right?’

‘Yeah, of course. I’m alwa-’

Jason froze, staring at the man who had just appeared on a path that was about 30 metres away. He had his back to the pair of them and was looking up at a couple of the trees but that didn’t matter because the trouser cuffs visible below the long trench coat were purple and he was so skinny. He had a hat on so Jason couldn’t check the hair but that strip of skin across his neck was so pale and Jason could practically see the ghost of a crowbar hanging from those thin fingers, currently wrapped in gloves. 

This isn't happening. This couldn’t be happening. He was in prison, that monster was in prison. Multiple life sentences, no chance of parole. He could never get to Jason again but rationality wasn’t winning out because this man with his back to them looked too similar and to Jason’s fucked over brain that was him. Pure unadulterated fear gripped his heart and he couldn’t breath. 

The park was falling away and all Jason could hear was that fucking laughter, consuming everything else. His ribs ached with phantom pain, the crowbar coming down again and again and again. No one’s coming, no one’s coming to save him. He’s going to die out here, bleeding and alone. A skinny street kid cocky enough to think he deserved to be someone, the human embodiment of disappointment. 

But then the man turned around and walked off. Normal face, no scars, no make up, greying brown hair curling at his temples. It wasn’t him, he was still locked up. As Jason slowly felt his tunnel vision start to fall away and he jerked away violently from the hands that were gently gripping his shoulders, not registering until he was up against the opposite side of the bench that it had just been Roy desperately trying to get his attention. He instantly felt horrible for flinching away but didn’t move because he really didn’t feel like he could handle physical contact right now, especially not with the way his breathing was still completely haywire. Slowly, he attempted and re-attempted to use some of the breathing techniques Bruce had taken the time to teach him after the first night he had woken up screaming in the manor from a nightmare that convinced him beyond doubt that _he_ had escaped and was never going to stop coming after Jason. Eventually, his breathing began to slow to a more regular pace and he opened his eyes, wincing slightly at the sharpness of the light that cut through the trees over head. 

Roy looked terrified as he stared at Jason, his hands hovering in the air between them, clearly desperate to touch but holding back. 

‘What, what happened? Was it me? Did I do something?’

Jason immediately felt swamped with guilt over the fear in Roy’s voice and he desperately wanted to apologise, but the words alluded him and he was forced to settled for just shaking his head with jerky motions instead. Looking down he frowned when he saw his hands were still shaking and he quickly clenched them together and to stick between his knees in an effort to try and still them. 

So focused on his hands, it took Jason a moment to register that Roy was speaking again and he missed the start of the sentence, ‘-to the Manor?’

He nodded numbly, the exhaustion crashing over him in waves but he refused to close his eyes now that his breathing had slowed, out of fear of being thrown back in that hell by his own head. Roy stood and Jason was glad that he didn’t try to touch him again and simply slipped off his borrowed hoodie and reached it out over the space between them cautiously. Jason took it and wrapped it around his shoulders without hesitation, watching as Roy’s shoulders dropped a little in relief. 

‘I’m just gonna ring Dick okay? Get him to come pick us up his car, and take us back, is that okay?’

Roy’s voice was soft and most of the time Jason hated when people treated him like an easily spooked animal, but he reluctantly admitted to himself that right now it was probably for the best. He distantly heard Roy talking to Dick on his phone, but tuned out pretty quick, not particularly eager to listen to relive what had just happened through Roy’s eyes. Instead followed quietly behind as they made their way back to the road, trying hard to focus on the sound of the wind blowing through the trees and the way the soft material of the hoodie felt gripped between his fingers, it smelled like a mix of him and Roy so he twisted the hood a bit so it was nearer his nose, trying desperately not to get overly angry at himself for ruining their day together just because his stupid head couldn’t keep its shit together. 

When Roy hung up with Dick, after a promise that he would be there in 15 minutes max, the two of them sat down on top of the brick wall that surrounded the park. Jason pulled up one of his hoods to block out some of the sensory input crowding his brain. 

‘You want to talk out it?’

He shook his head.

‘You want me to be quiet?’

Another shake.

‘You want me to talk?’

Nod.

‘You know me and Wally used to share a flat right?’

‘Nod.’

‘Yeah so we used to technically live there but Dick used to be there all the time. Like literally all the time, until one day the pair of us noticed that we couldn’t remember the last time he’d slept somewhere other than our couch. So it turns out that a couple of months before that was when Bruce and him and had that big fight and Dick had stormed out the manor, swearing to never come back. Not that he ever told us that. I swear the man is ridiculous, he’ll ask how you’re doing 100 times a day but god forbid he actually bother anyone else with his own problems right? 

So anyway, Dickies basically been living with us for the past two months and eventually we manage to get him to tell us what happen and that just so happened to be around the time this little street punk showed up on the scene.’

Roy smiled a little at the hint of a smirk that coaxed out of Jason.

‘So as soon as we know what’s been going on, Dick’s all, ‘you won’t believe what Bruce has done’, ‘he  _ replaced _ me’, ‘This kid tried to steal his tires, how stupid can you get’. Of course Wally, despite at the time still standing fast beside his proclamation that he has no feelings of the romantic sort for Mr Richard John Grayson whatsoever, is hanging off his every word and cuddling on the couch like a good friend, while I’m rolling my eyes at their dramatics and fetching an endless stream of water glasses from the kitchen so neither of them would have to move. I swear to god I deserve proper recognition for the part I played in getting them together. But then, as they always do, Bruce and Dick are making up and suddenly he’s all, ‘my little brother did this’, ‘my little brother did that’, ‘me and Jason went go-karting yesterday’, ‘did you know Jason’s got a 3.7 GPA?’. 

Roy cracked a weak grin and almost nudged Jason in the arm before catching himself.

‘I’m telling you it was the most tiresome thing you ever heard. Then that video of you flipping off Lex Luthor at a Wayne Foundation Gala went viral and I swear after watching it I spent weeks trying to aline that kid with the angel of a child Dick was always describing you as. I wanted to meet you so bad and I was going to as well I think, Dick wanted to try and bring you around our place in Central one day but then shit just happened I guess. Oliver started spending more time abroad and we basically never spoke, Dick got his place at the Bludhaven police academy and Wally decided he wanted to move back to Blue Valley so he could go to college there. Things broke apart and I’ve sort of reached the point where I’m not ashamed to say I spiralled, hard. Tried the needle for the first time under 5 weeks later, after that I could barely think about anything else, but for me anything was better than thinking about how little I had left. Oliver found out eventually, metaphorically and literally spat on me. You know it was Hal fucking Jordan of all people who actually dragged me off my ass and checked me into rehab on Oliver’s money? By the time I resurfaced and felt steady enough to reach out to Dick, you were gone, presumed dead and there was a new little brother eager to meet his brand new big brothers friends and it felt like I was the only one questioning whether Bruce should be taking in another kid with the grief he was still so clearly drowning in. Turns out everyone had pointed it out but just given up because he hadn’t made a bit of difference, it was fucked up I’m telling you, relevant side note: your dad has the most stubborn ass of anyone I’ve ever met. 

Point is, that new version I met in the bar is amazing because he showed me how you can blend a kid who beats his older brother at go-karting, has a 3.7 GPA, and is snarky beyond belief into the same body. I just really need you to know Jaybird that whatever that was just now, it not going to change how I think about you. I’ve lived through some shit, you aren’t gonna be getting rid of me that easily.’

Jason let out a breath he hadn’t realised he’d been holding as he changed from intermittently glancing at Roy out of the corner of his eyes, to actually turning a little on the wall so he could face him better. Words were still fading before he could grasp them and he was pretty sure Roy didn’t know ASL so, as a ways of communication he pulled down his hoodie sleeve so it covered the majority of his palm before placing his hand on top of Roy’s and twining their fingers together. The material of the hoodie covered enough direct skin-on-skin contact to make the tough reassuring over overwhelming. Jason smiled, Roy smiled back. They sat like that until Dick arrived. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed the longer chapter, I'm so stoked to be hitting 40,000 words when I honestly wasn't expecting this to stretch for longer than 20,000. Just thank you so much to everyone who has left a comment or kudos at any point, every single one of them has been the best motivator to work on each new chapter.
> 
> Let me know what you thought of this one in the comments and if you are enjoying so far!


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jason, Dick and Roy arrive back at the manor where Bruce is waiting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry it may have been two weeks since the last update... I just had family visiting and then I was just too damn exhausted to be able to create anything worth reading but it's here now. Hope you enjoy, although this definitely isn't a very nice chapter for Jason.
> 
> Quick warning for very non-graphic and brief throwing up.

Things didn’t exactly go amazing after that. Dick arrived. Took one look at them and immediately noticed something was wrong, not that that was very difficult. Tried to put his hand on Jason’s arm in what was, in hindsight, probably intended to be a comforting gesture. Jason instinctually punched Dick in the face. It wasn’t ideal.

‘Shit Jaybird, guess that answers my question about whether you know self defence.’ Roy immediately moved forward to help Dick get himself standing back upright as Jason stepped back hazardously, almost tripping himself up on a loose paving stone, and scrambled through his pockets to offer out a tissue packet that had been shoved deep into one of them.

Dick took them quickly, careful not to touch Jason’s fingers in the process which he appreciated, so he could attempt to soak up some of the blood that had already spilled down his chin and onto the neck of his shirt, there was no way they were going to get away with Alfred not noticing that, shit.

Probably noticing the stricken look on Jason’s face, Dick made an effort to get Roy to back off a little so he could look at him as properly as possible with the tissues still shoved against his face, ‘it’s alright Jay, 100% my fault anyway. I’ll just take it back to my apartment to get rid of the stain, Alf will never know. Don’t look at me like that Roy, seriously wait until he finds you trying to get blood out of clothes because of a brotherly injury and see how you like it. Fuck, I hope it’s not broken, Wally will be so fussy.’

It was at times like this that Jason more appreciative than ever of Dick’s innate ability to fill any kind of silence without hesitation. Roy ended up having to drive them all back to the manor while Dick tentatively and a little idiotically poked at different points on his swelling nose as well as prattling on about what, Jason had no idea, he ended up just pulling his hood up tighter, curling his legs up against the door of the car and watching the city streets as the flashy skyscrapers slowly dissolved into the half-collapsed, abandoned structures that filled up most of the outlying areas.

Not for the first time, Jason tried to imagine what his life would look like if he’d been born into an emotionally healthy, lower middle class nuclear family instead of the shit show he’d been served up. It was a little game he liked to play back when he was on the streets and then later on while wondering if he was going to drown in his own blood or pass out from blunt force trauma first before he returned to Gotham and told himself he was done holding onto false hope and empty fantasies. 

Maybe he would’ve gone to a regular high school, not the crummy middle school in The Narrows he’d dropped out of or Gotham Academy and its elitist assholes, just a normal high school with normal kids that wasn’t being used as a front to raise child soldiers or where no one would so much as talk to him for the first 6 months just because of his background. Jason felt a wistful smile float across his face at the thought, maybe he would’ve joined a school team, made a close groups of friends he would spend everyday with. Fuck it would have been brilliant to just get the bus to and from school everyday instead of having pretty much the entire student body be dropped off by their families personal chauffeurs every morning. He knew it was dumb because most kids with that style of life would probably do literally anything to be free of the mind numbing repetitiveness of it all but at least he wouldn’t have had to spend every other evening hidden under the table wondering why his parents hated each other so much or spend every hour post puberty haunted by that fucking psychotic clown. Deep down, Jason knew he just craved a little normalcy and it made him want to scream and tear his own hair out to know that he was just too fucked up to ever have it. 

He found himself blinking rapidly to clear his vision at the sudden awareness of the tightness spreading across his throat and wetness gathering in his eyes. Deep breaths. One after the other.  Can’t let Dick see you’re struggling. Can’t let  _ Roy  _ see you struggling, not after everything he’s gone through and done for you. In. Out. In. Out. Eye’s starting to clear, that’s good. 

Just as Jason was starting to get himself back under tight control again, and his throat was beginning to loosen, they pulled up in front of the manor, only to see Bruce sat on the front steps clearly having been waiting for them to arrive. Just the sight of him, the man who’d saved him, the man who’d abandoned him, Jason’s body immediately ripped the reigns from his mind and he threw up all over himself.

Ignoring Roy and Dick’s protests which were swarming together in the buzzing background noise of his mind, Jason tried to focus on using trembling hands to open up the car door and just getting out of this too small space as quick as possible. When he finally managed to grip the handle and get the door open he almost fell out onto the gravel in his haste. Leaning heavily against the side of the car he took a moment to swirl some spit around his mouth and out onto the ground in an effort to clear his mouth out from some of that ghastly vomit taste.

Originally, upon pushing back up onto his feet, Jason had been intending to just move past Bruce to get into the manor so he could clean up and calm down alone but when he actually saw his adoptive dad’s face and heard the painfully soft, ‘what happened Jaylad?’ something snapped in a way he hadn’t felt in months.

‘YOU DID THIS TO ME!’ God his chest was so tight, why was it so painful?

Bruce’s face flickered to hurt confusion for just a second before he smoothed it over into that emotionless stoic mask of his.

Ignoring the dizziness shrouding his brain Jason pushed on, ‘NO! YOU DON’T GET TO DO THAT, YOU DON’T GET TO CLOSE YOURSELF AND JUST IGNORE IT. YOU MADE ME THIS WAY TIME TO FACE TO IT, INSTEAD OF SENDING THE GOLDEN BOY OUT TO DO YOUR DIRTY WORK FOR YOU, JUST LIKE ALWAYS.’

Someone who didn’t know Bruce wouldn’t have seen anything but Jason immediately spotted the barely noticeable flicker of hurt in Bruce’s eyes, not that his voice gave it away at all.

‘Go inside Jason, you need to cool off and then we can talk about it if you want to. I’m not dealing with you while you’re acting like this, you know that, you need to calm down.’

‘Calm down? That’s a bit FUCKING hypocritical coming from you Bruce. You’re the one-’

‘CALM DOWN Jace, you’re not well and no one wants you to say things you’ll regret.’

‘I’m FINE, and fun fact for you here, I’ve never regretted a thing I’ve ever said to you. Not back when I was a kid, not right after I rose from the fucking dead and definitely not right now. So take a good long look Bruce, this is what you created.’ Jason swung his arms wide, well aware of the rapid rate his chest was rising and falling but not finding it within himself to care.

Just as he was gearing up to shout again, Jason caught sight of Roy and Dick where they were standing back by the car and it was like all of the energy collapsed out of him. Dick just looked so fucking pitying and Roy bone-achingly sad. When he spoke again his voice was quieter, slightly rough from the throwing up and yelling, aiming for the hurt instead of just the pure rage from before.

‘You know B, most of the time I find myself wishing he actually had killed me, that that would’ve been better for everyone. Hey Golden Boy? Remember that time you found one of Damian’s swords in my room and I told you I’d been photographing it to prove to a friend that my 13 year old brother actually owned a katana?’ He didn’t wait for an answer, ‘shocker. I’d actually just spent the last 3 hours contemplating slitting my own wrists, crazy stuff huh? I just fucking wish I’d never met Bruce Wayne, I’d have been better off out on the streets than here. At least that way I wouldn’t be freezing up at every pale fucker in a trench coat I saw and throwing up all over myself after having had my brother drive me to the last place I ever want to be. Congratulations Bruce, hell of a life you’ve given me, silver spoon my ass.’

Not wanting to give anyone a chance to respond, and silently pretty scared that if they did he might not be able to stop himself throwing punches, Jason shoved his hands in his pockets and stalked off around the side of the house at a brisk pace.

\---

He’d always liked it here.

Especially when he was new and still kind of terrified of being kicked out.

Being surrounded by green was always almost as calming as being in the library. It was just all so different than the city blocks he grew up that it really let him forget about everything for a while, particularly when he brought a book with him. 

Today though he didn’t have a book. Today he was stripped down to just his sweat soaked t-shirt and leather jacket, that was still surprising clean, in his favourite, mostly hidden corner, of the Wayne greenhouse whilst trying to psych himself up to slip back into the manor and grab a shower. It was the actually getting himself to stand up again that was proving to be the problem.

‘You know I’m pretty sure the plants didn’t appreciate having a smelly hoodie thrown at them.’

Jason was pretty proud of the fact that he only flinched a little, ‘how’d you find me?’

‘Dick said he knew you used to sneak off and disappear in this direction a lot so figured it was worth a shot, took me awhile to find the right spot though,’ Roy smiled softly and scuffed one his feet across the stone of the pathway, ‘I can see why you like it though, it’s very you. Beautiful, mysterious,’ Roy sat down heavily on the bench beside him, ‘and stubborn as hell.’

Jason sighed, he was so tired, ‘we’re not talking about the plants anymore.’

‘We’re not talking about the plants anymore.’

‘I won’t apologise to him, and there’s no changing my mind.’

‘And I’d never make you Jay, fact is I agree with most of what you said. Sounds like someone needs to be calling him out on his bullshit every now and then to me.’

‘So why are you here then?’ Jason pulled a knee up against his chest and hugged it tight.

‘I needed to make sure you were okay Jaybird, plus I’d figured that you’d rather it be me you saw first rather than one of your family.’

‘Well you’re not wrong there.’

‘What do you say you go in and get cleaned up, I grab my bags and then we steal Bruce’s fanciest car and take it to your favourite shitty diner? I know it won’t magically fix anything but I promise I won’t let anyone make you talk to Bruce before you want to.’

‘I don’t fucking deserve you Roytoy.’

‘Nah Jaybird, it’s me who doesn’t deserve you. Now get your vomit stinking ass up and let’s go grab a shower. I seriously need to try out the manors infamous water pressure, I bet it’s even better than at Oliver’s.’

Jason managed to conjure up a weak version of his signature smirk, ‘I should hope so.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think Jason just really hates that things like that happen to him and Bruce was there at the wrong place wrong time so ends up with the blame thrown at him because Jason gets emotional, Jason throws up walls and makes sure everyone knows he's angry.
> 
> Again sorry for the long delay.
> 
> Please let me know what you thought and if you have anything at all you want to tell me don't hesitate to put it down in the comments!


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> An actual update? I know! Wild right.
> 
> I do promise that no matter how long it takes, I will not abandon this fic. I'm gonna give my all not to play you guys like that after you've all been so amazing when it comes to support through kudos, comments and bookmarks, which I can never thank you enough for.

Sneaking back into the house without being seen was actually a lot easier than someone from outside the family would expect, mostly because Jason was incredibly practiced at it. As he carefully clambered in through the window to his old bedroom, Jason was hit by a staggering blow of nostalgia as he remembered being a kid and doing the exact same thing night after night until he had perfected the climb from window to drainpipe to tree to ground and back again. Maybe it was a little on the sad side but, he had to admit he was still pretty chuffed he’d manage to get it down to 10 seconds from start to finish even with a go-bag thrown over one shoulder. It might all seem a little manic, but he could definitely remember, without a doubt, how much safer he had felt sleeping alone in an unknown space once he knew he had a flawless escape plan if something ever happened. 

Now it just came in handy to get the two of them back into the manor easier without being spotted by his nosy brothers, well easier for Jason at least. He found it within himself to smile a little, as he dropped into his old room and turned around to see Roy still only a few feet off the ground looking at him like he was some kind of magician.

‘What the hell Jaybird? I thought Dick was the acrobat of the family!’ Came the hushed whisper, ‘do I even want to know how many times you’ve practiced that?’

Jason only leaned forward out of the open window, putting a hand on the top end of the frame for support, ‘come on Roytoy, you gonna tell me you can’t climb up the trellis to your boyfriend’s bedroom window without his dad hearing you and coming out with his shotgun? How disappointing.’

With a little frown Roy looked back at the tree and focused for a moment as he climbed, not looking up again until he was level with the window Jason was still leaning out of.

‘Looks like I’m not a complete failure yet, plus I’m fairly sure Bruce doesn’t even have a shotgun.’

‘Nope but Alfred does.’

‘Okay that I believe.’

‘Sure you do. Now come on, grab me with one hand and the drainpipe with the other, that’ll make this bit easier.’

Jason couldn’t help but smirk a little at the tiny frown of concentration on Roy’s face as he slowly reached out over the gap between them and grabbed onto Jason’s outstretched hand tightly. The second he felt Roy’s weight start to transfer forwards, instead of allowing Roy to move at his own pace, Jason yanked hard causing Roy to topple forward with a surprised yelp and tumble through the open window, pushing them both onto the floor. 

Huffing out an amused laugh at Roy’s beyond shocked face, Jason pushed the other boy off of him until they were laying side by side on the ground.

‘Okay, it’s official now, you Wayne’s are actually insane. Dude, why the hell would you do that?’

‘Just to see that exact look on your face Harper, totally worth it, plus it got you in didn’t it?’

‘Uh fine- wait is this your old room?’

‘Wait, no. No, nope, let’s focus on the other thing, like how I just almost let you fall out of a tree, that’s important right?’

‘Jesus Jay, how many books do you have in here? I thought this place had a library for that?’

‘It does… I just liked having my own copies,’ Jason rubbed his arms awkwardly as they both got to their feet and he watched Roy make his way over to stand before the overflowing shelves along the opposite side of the room, ‘this isn’t really my room anyway, for some reason Bruce just decided to keep it like a damn time capsule.’

‘Nah this room still has you in it, can’t you tell? I can practically see baby Jaybird hurrying to turn off the lights so Alfred didn’t know he was reading past his bedtime.’

‘Don’t be dumb,’ Jason walked up to stand and stare up at the bookshelf alongside Roy, ‘I read with a flashlight under the covers, what kind of amateur do you take me for?’

Roy threw him a crooked smile, ‘course you did, that one’s my bad.’

‘Do you think it’s kind of creepy that Bruce never sorted through my stuff? I mean he thought I was dead for a long time, you’d think by the time he’d moved on enough to take a whole ass kid in he’d have tidied up my room at least a little?’ Jason moved over to his bedside table and picked up the book lying there, flipping it over in his hands in a way that caused the bookmark still inside to fall out, he smiled, an edge of what was unmistakable for anything other than sadness in his eyes, ‘I never did get to finish this thing, it was for school, never got to hear Mrs Bradshaw’s spoiler inclusive opinions on the apparently very dramatic ending.’

‘So I wasn’t gonna say anything but I’m beginning to think this might be a dad thing? Don’t tell anyone but when I came back to Oliver’s mansion for the first time after my second run in rehab, I hadn’t been inside since I ran out after Ollie hit me after he found me shooting up that first time, he’d done the exact same thing.’

‘No way.’

‘Yeah, I mean it was a load tidier but that was more likely to be Dinah than Ollie, all my stuff still right where I left it like I could just move right back in like none of it had ever happened,’ Jason could hear the sharp bitter edge to Roy’s words but he didn’t comment on it.

‘Did you? I’m not sure I could move back into the manor, even now. Too much hanging over my head to be able to stand it.’

Roy’s face cracked into a sudden fierce grin that Jason couldn’t help but return, ‘Fuck no, I completely trashed the place from head to toe and then made off that my sponsor said it would be therapeutic or some shit, felt fucking amazing though.’

Jason found his eyes suddenly stray to the baseball bat in his peripheral vision before flicking back over to Roy, ‘Should we?’

‘We shouldn’t. But we could.’

‘We totally could. Bruce has been dropping hints about therapy.’

‘And my sponsor did maybe say it could be therapeutic.’

‘Only one way to find out.’

‘Small steps forward are still forward.’

‘I mean we could even move the books before we get started, put them in the corridor so they don’t get damaged,’ Jason flipped the book he was still holding over in his hand thoughtfully.

‘They’d stack up no problem.’

\---

Not soon enough the two of them were standing in the middle of Jason’s book-free room facing each other, Jason was well aware of the manic glint in his eye but really couldn’t say he cared, he could see the exact same glint in Roy’s eyes too.

‘So where do you want to start?’

‘Oh I know exactly what I want to break first.’

Jason stalked to the corner of the room and picked up the baseball bat in two hands before turning around, walking to the opposite wall, taking a deep breath and swinging hard with both hands so the bat smashed straight into the centre of the massive flat screen TV mounted onto the wall.

‘100 fucking inches and I swear to god I have always wanted to do that, FUCK, that felt amazing.’

He then proceeded to swing again and again into the same spot until the TV was located more on the floor at his feet than attached to the wall. Snapping out of his haze Jason turned round to see Roy using a smashed up chair leg to destroy his shelves and everything on them. It was strangely calming to watch all the awards he’d won from Gotham Academy be shattered to pieces one by one until each was completely indistinguishable from the next. Picking up a baseball from on top of the now empty bookcase, Jason hurled it across the room so it smashed into an action figure on a shelf Roy hadn’t yet reached. On impact, its torso separated from its legs, causing them to fly across the room in opposite directions, yeah, definitely some form of strangely calming.

Roy whipped his head around to look and grinned wider when he saw what Jason had done, quickly he picked up the baseball, tossing it back over to Jason and joining him on that side of the room.

10 minutes later, they had somehow found themselves seated on chairs, the only really intact things- other than the bed- remaining in the room, and taking it in turns to hurl the baseball and a tennis ball that Jason had managed to dig up at various items they were finding to line up on the shelves opposite them.

‘How have they not come up by now? I swear when I did this Oliver was at the door in like two minutes looking like he thought I was being attacked.’ Roy threw the baseball straight into an old phone leaned upright against the wall, he leaned over and added a tally to the score sheet they were keeping on a scrap of paper between them.

‘I don’t even know, big house? Failing that, good quality headphones?.’ Jason went for his old alarm clock but missed, the tennis ball bouncing off the corner of the shelf instead.

‘Wouldn’t Alfred know though? Dick always used to say he could always hear him sneaking back in no matter what window he was using.’ Another point for Roy for getting a snow globe Jason had brought back from that time Dick had taken him up to the mountains for the weekend.

‘Oh Alfred definitely knows about this. He probably thinks it’s good for me too and, or, good for Bruce, if he wanted us to stop, we would have stopped.’ Double points for managing to get an old paper mache science project and the watch in one throw.

‘Fair enou-’

‘What  _ are _ you boys doing?!’

Jason ignored Bruce completely and looked at Roy instead, not bothering to speak under his breath, ‘speak of the devil and he shall appear.’ 

Jason really couldn’t find it in himself to feel overly bad as he watched Bruce look around the destroyed room in unabashed horror, after a moment of silence Damian, of all people, ducked past Bruce and took a look at the room.

‘Oh you’ve really done it this time Todd.’

He then promptly walked back out again before Jason even had a chance to respond. Just when he thought Bruce was about to start ripping into him, his technically adoptive father’s expression dropped and he honestly to god shrugged, ‘well you saved the books so at least I know that it was definitely your decision.’

Okay now Jason was just confused, ‘wait, you’re not mad?’

Bruce sighed, in that heavy way he used to do in the later years when Jason used to try and provoke him over little things and he was desperately trying not to let himself react, ‘no Jay I’m not mad. Honestly, I’m kind of relieved. I’ve always just kind of ignored the prospect of clearing out this stuff and now you’ve finally forced my hand.’

Jason didn’t say anything, too frozen by the different route events had suddenly taken.

‘So carry on, I guess.’ Bruce then just wandered out of the room leaving Jason and Roy alone again.

‘Well that was weird.’

‘Fucking tell me about it.’

‘You win.’

‘What?’

‘Your family is officially way weirder than mine. I mean Ollie was be weird but this is just off the weirdness scale.’

Right at that moment Roy, who had previously been swinging back and forth on his chair, suddenly overbalanced and crashed backwards onto the floor with an undignified yelp. 

‘You know you’re pretty fucking high on the weirdness scale yourself.’

‘Aww you called me pretty!’

‘That is definitely a line I’m only letting you use once.’

‘Well I definitely class it as single use well spent.’

Both of them cut off so they could overhear the new voice approaching down the corridor.

‘Oh! I know those voices-’ Of course it’s got to be Dick, ‘-so this is Jason, second oldest after me,-’ he and whoever it was he was with rounded the doorway, ‘-and his boyfriend Roy Harper, from Star…’

Dick trailed off as he took in the scene before him, even Jason could admit it probably looked a little weird, even for the Waynes. The entire room destroyed, Roy lying on his back on the floor with a chair on its side next to him and Jason leaning over the back of his own chair looking down at him. 

The new guy, a kid who looked a little older than Damian but probably younger than Tim in a beat up yellow hoodie, to his credit, knew how to cover up any kind of shock or unease he was feeling and instead shot a lazy two-fingered salute in Jason’s direction. ‘Yeah you’re the guy that was dead but then somehow wasn’t right? I’m Duke.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was literally forever kicking myself for forgetting to include Duke in my initial introduction of the family and have been trying to work out a way to write him in ever since so here we are!
> 
> Just so y'all know, this fic is planning to run up to when Roy leaves for Star City and then I might do a time skip, epilogue style, chapter of Jason flying out to start at SCU if that's something you would be interested in seeing. Not sure how many total chapters that will make it but I just wanted to tell you lot my current plan!
> 
> Hope you enjoyed and let me know what you thought of Jason and Roy just plain destroying shit down in comments!


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter's mainly centred around Dick and Jason but has definitely got brotherly bonding with both new and old brothers and some speckled in Jayroy so enjoy!

‘Yeah you’re both looking at me like that name is supposed to mean something and I’ve gotta admit I’m drawing a major blank here,’ nevertheless Jason still returned the salute he’d been shot, just not without cocking a questioning eyebrow in Dick’s direction at the same time.

‘Really Jay? Duke. Duke Thomas. The kid B has been telling us about for ages that’s moving into the manor today? I know you’re sickeningly love struck and all that but tell me you still at least pay a little bit of attention to the rest of us.’

Dick was only half paying attention to Jason, too busy taking in the destroyed room to notice the way Roy jabbed him playfully in the ribs at that comment.

‘And what exactly makes you think that Bruce bothers to tell me anything? We aren’t all the Golden child you know.’

‘Don’t talk like that Jay, you know how he gets, he probably just forgot.’

‘Come on Dickie, being forgetful is accidentally calling me by half our siblings names before he remembers which kid he’s talking to. Not telling me he’s adopting another kid is just him trying to avoid an awkward conversation.’

‘Look as thrilling as this is and all, I don’t appreciate being called kid. I’ve got a name.’

Before Jason could open his mouth to reply, Roy chose to speak up without even sitting up from where he was still laying on the floor, ‘Don’t mind Jaybird, he’s got more Daddy issues than the rest of this family put together, apart from maybe Cass. She’s got a pretty strong case.’

‘Yeah but Cass is actually making an effort to work on that,’ Dick was leaning up against the door frame now.

‘Hey! I resent that.’

‘Sorry to break it to you Jaybird but Tim’s hospital records beg to differ.’

‘Okay I lightly stabbed him, one time, when I was in a really bad place.’

‘Wait did he just say he stabbed Tim? As in Tim you introduced me to like 5 minutes ago?’

‘Lightly stabbed dude, it was no big deal.’

‘We don’t really bring it up. It’s awkward history.’

‘This family is insane.’

‘Tell me about it, I have no idea how I got here.’

‘You asked me out first!’

‘Details details Jaybird.’

They fell into a silence that ended with Duke muttering something about going to find Alfred because at least someone in this place could hold a normal, sane conversation. Dick let him go and after hovering awkwardly in the doorway for a second opted to come inside and sit on the floor. After taking a moment to read both of their faces Roy slid to his feet and planted a light kiss on Jason’s cheek before heading out of the room too. As much as Jason didn’t want him to go, he equally didn’t want to subject both Dick and Roy to the awkwardness of the other being present during the conversation that he had no doubt was coming.

‘He’s a good kid, been through a lot just like all of us.’

Refusing to give Dick an out, Jason sat in silence and only nodded his head in agreement, fiddling with a stray bit of thread at the bottom of his hoodie.

‘You know he only asks me to talk to you first because he doesn’t know how to talk to you without saying something wrong. He did the same thing when I got upset as kid, send in Alfred to avoid risking the precarious relationship we were starting to build.’

Jason only snorted harshly, knowing that the ‘he’ they were referring to definitely wasn’t Duke anymore, before falling silent, forcing Dick to expand further.

‘If he’d known, if any of us had known where your head was at we would’ve-’

‘No, you wouldn’t’ve,’ Jason was so fucking exhausted, ‘say that all you like but if Bruce had known how low I’d gotten he wouldn’t have listened, he’d have panicked and shut me up somewhere I wouldn’t have physically been able to hurt myself.’

‘He really does care about you.’

‘Yeah? Well he’s got a funny way of showing it.’

‘You need help Jay and the thing with B is that he doesn’t know how to process that because he just wants so badly for all of us to be okay.’

Jason pulled his shoulders in tighter and focused hard on a piece of broken glass a couple of inches from Dick’s feet, ‘I’m  _ fine _ .’

Dick rubbed a hand roughly over his face, ‘I know there is no way you actually believe that.’

‘You don’t know shit! I talked to that therapist for a few months like B wanted, it did fuckall so I stopped going. I cope, I’m fine.’

Jason hated talking to Dick about this stuff. Mainly because Bruce was always too easy to deflect into a shouting match to avoid him having to actually face up to anything, unless he made things uncomfortably personal, Dick always insisted on keeping his voice level and making genuinely valid points that Jason couldn’t really argue with.

‘So you call waking up screaming most nights- yeah I’ve heard you- and having a completely debilitating panic attack because you saw some guy in a trench coat coping do you? This won’t just go away if you ignore it Jason.’

Jason sneered, ‘what, you want me to go cry out my problems to some ridiculously overpaid shrink? I ain’t crazy.’

‘No Jay, I want you to try talking to someone who knows more about methods of processing these kinds of things than we do. Me, B, Roy, we all want to help you but the fact is I wouldn’t know the first place to start when it came to finding something that might genuinely do you some long term good.’

‘It was the way she looked at me, she…’ Jason swallowed hard to try and rid himself of the damn lump building up in his throat, ‘so much pity. She was the first person outside the family we told what had happened, Bruce claimed it was so she could help me better. Every time she looked at me that was all she saw and I just couldn’t take being looked at like I was some broken thing that she’d been given the impossible task of piecing back together.’

‘So she didn’t work for you. You don’t have to settle Jay, you won’t be forced to talk to someone you aren’t comfortable with. You just, you need to talk to someone Jay, even if they aren’t a licensed therapist. You’re allowed to want to heal.’

An indecipherable look crossed Dick’s face and was gone again a moment later as the corners of his mouth dropped downwards.

‘I can’t imagine a world where my little brother doesn’t deserve to be happy again Little Wing.’

Genuinely scared that if he spoke again his carefully constructed walls were going to come crashing down, Jason just looked at Dick for a long drawn out moment before tugging up his hood and walking out the room. He pretended not to hear the loud crash that echoed down the hall as Dick hurled the abandoned baseball into the shelves with a yell.

\---

Jason leant forward and looked hard into the mirror in front of him. Sometimes he’d be looking into his own eyes and barely recognise the person looking back. Sure he’d been hardened by Crime Alley by the time he got to Bruce but there had always been a glint of  _ something  _ there, now he just looked dead. In the harsh lighting of the bathroom he could easily make out the crisscrossed scars scattering his temples and hairline. In most lighting they were so faint as to be barely visible with the naked eye but right now they were as obvious to Jason as they’d ever been and he knew if he reached a hand up he would be able to feel the ridges each one made across his skin. He clenched and unclenched his hands into fists by his sides. 

Breaking eye contact he pulled off his clothes and jumped into the shower he’d been heating up, unbelievably thankful for the minute relaxation of the warmth spreading out through his tense muscles. Seeing as this was a random guest rooms ensuite, picked so the chances of anyone finding him were decently low, there was only the standard body wash inside. Didn’t really matter though because there was no way Jason had the energy to wash his hair right now either way. Tilting his head forward so that the spray could run properly down the back of his neck, Jason took a moment to try and picture himself in one of those neutrally coloured, cosy offices therapists always seemed to have in movies. It was just, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t picture himself being able to open up to someone he barely knew anything about, even if Bruce vouched for them. Even if he wanted to, he wasn’t sure he would subconsciously let himself put it into coherent wording. Hell, Jason wasn’t even sure how to put all his tormentations into coherent wording in his own head. Jason Todd was fucked up beyond help. That’s just how things were. End of story. Couldn’t be helped. 

But then Dick’s words floated back into his head, maybe he could try to become someone that deserved to get better? The part of Jason that still remembered the wonder of being brought into the world of a billionaire did yearn to be purely happy again. Then there was Roy. It was undeniable that Roy deserved better than him, deserved better than the shitty hand life had dealt him. If Roy really was telling the truth when he said he was going to stick around Jason for a while to come, surely Jason could try to work on himself for him? 

Rubbing his forehead in an attempt to ward off the gathering headache for a little longer, Jason stepped out the shower and wrapped one of the fluffy towels on the wrack around his waist and used another to dry his shoulders off. Thank god Alfred insisted on keeping the majority of these rooms well stocked incase of the arrival of impromptu guests, though Jason did suspect that he also did it so that all members of the family could run off and hide from the rest at any given time if they needed to. With a sigh at the fact that he was definitely no closer to deciding whether to follow up with Dick or simply ignore the whole thing outright, Jason opted to only pull the boxer briefs he’d hazardously thrown onto the floor earlier back on, the idea of fully dressing again just made his skin crawl. 

Then, allowing himself to yawn widely, Jason stumbled out into the guest bedroom and practically collapsed forwards onto the bed, simultaneously grabbing his phone into one hand where he had previously discarded it on the mattress. As he manoeuvred his way under the covers, he pulled up the news and gossip pages to see if he’d missed anything since he’d scrolled through over breakfast earlier. He couldn’t help but smirk as he flicked across a few articles by reporters who had managed to figure out Kon’s identity and had clearly been spending their time pestering him if the abundance of photos were anything to go by. He even found a hilarious video in which someone was following after a quickly retreating Kon and Clark whilst yelling questions regarding, ‘how good Timothy Drake-Wayne really is in the sack?’ Causing the poor kid to flush bright red and immediately refuse to look anywhere but the exact opposite direction to his father. Cute. 

There were also some reports accompanied by a few actually quite flattering pictures of Jason and Roy making what could only be described as heart eyes at each other over the table in the diner where they’d had breakfast that morning. Jason was incredibly thankful that there didn’t seem to be anything at all from the park online yet. Closing the news app Jason opened up messaging instead.

**16:54**

Sorry for driving you out earlier, I’m in the fifth door on the right of the third corridor on the second floor if you want to take a break from the family for a bit.

As an afterthought Jason followed up with a heart, hoping that Roy hadn’t taken him disappearing on his own for a bit too personally. Putting his phone down onto the bedside table Jason curled up and enjoyed the amazing quality duvet with full intent of taking a nap, if he smiled to himself and burrowed a little further under the covers when a few minutes later a warm body slipped in to spoon him from behind and place a kiss against the nape of his neck, well only him and Roy were around to see it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you can't tell I've been watching the new season of Queer Eye so Jason's gonna be drinking that self-acceptance juice even if it takes him some time to get there! Never forget you deserve to be living your best lives my dudes! Self-care isn't vanity it's sanity!
> 
> Anyway hope y'all enjoyed and hit me up in the comments to let me know what you thought!


	19. Chapter 19

 The two of them spent the rest of the day hidden away upstairs, only interrupted briefly by Alfred who dropped off some sandwiches whilst promising Jason that he wouldn’t tell the others where they were. Jason figured that he had months to figure things out with the family whilst him and Roy only had mere hours left together. 

‘You’re kidding me right? There is no way you’ve kissed Donna Troy? Like no offense babe you’re gorgeous but Donna’s-’ Jason made a vague motion with his hand into the empty air in front of him, whilst the other continued to card through Roy’s hair where his head was currently resting against his chest.

‘Donna’s Donna, I know, but I swear it happened. Though don’t tell me Mr Smokey Eyes with the scuffed leather jacket doesn’t have any stories of his own.’

Jason went quiet for a moment, thinking it over.

‘Aw shit Jay, I’m sorry, I know you missed out on a lot of the teenager stuff,’ Roy made an aborted movement as though he was going to twist round to face Jason but opted to just twine the fingers of two of their hands together instead.

Jason let himself grin, ‘Rose Wilson.’

‘Rose fucking- shit Jaybird, does her dad know?’

‘I hope he never finds out.’

‘Yeah Slade’d have your fucking head or worse.’

Jason shuddered at the memory of how Slade had spent years refusing to stop hassling Dick after the (false) rumours about him and Slade’s kid, Joey, had been spun around by Vicki Vale. It’d been a nightmare to get the guy to back off and he seriously didn’t need that in his life.

‘On a completely different note to strangely attractive old men who stalked your older brother, you should meet Kori, you guys would get on so good.’

‘Kori like Koriand’r? Dick’s ex?’

‘I mean yeah but she’s so much more than that, could kick both of our asses blindfolded for sure.’

‘Honestly from the pictures I’ve seen, I believe that.’

‘You know what? You guys should never meet, I think that may actually melt my dumb queer brain.’

Jason chuckled, still playing with Roy’s hair, ‘now that I’ve just got to see Roytoy.’

‘Maybe one day, if we thought the world could handle it. Pretty sure she’s still off travelling with Raven and Garth right now, last I heard they were jumping off cliffs somewhere in Europe.’

‘Maybe one day.’

Travelling wasn’t really something Jason had thought much about before. When he was a kid he’d been too poor and him and Bruce had never really gone away together either. Then, after, he had just been so consumed with wreaking havoc in Gotham that he hadn’t even started thinking about travelling until later when it was always for business reasons, like when he’d met Roy. Hell he’d never even been to New York and that wasn’t far at all.

‘You ever been to Europe?’

He regretted the question the second he felt the uncomfortable tension spread over Roy’s shoulders but it was out there now so many as well follow it through even if the nonchalance of Roy’s answer was so obviously faked.

‘Not really no. Never went anywhere before, then Oliver was too busy taking his girls to exotic places too drag the kid along. By the time he finally made things official with Dinah I wasn’t worth spending money on.’

‘If you went, where would you go?’

‘Jaybird, that’s like an impossible question,’ nevertheless, Roy answered as though it was something he had spend a lot of time thinking about, ‘but if I had to choose, I’d say London on automatic but then when I think about it I’d probably love somewhere in Scandinavia like Oslo, or, or Stockholm, I bet it’s beautiful up there.’ Roy stroked a thumb across Jason’s knuckles absent mindedly, ‘What about you Jaybird?’

‘I don’t know, I just want to travel you know. When I was on the streets,’ for some reason saying that to Roy never stilted the conversation like it did with basically everyone else. Seemed to always remind the rich people of whatever it was their money let them forget, though technically Jason was a rich person now too ’I found this magazine at one point, I don’t know what it was called but I just remember the amazing pictures it had of all these places around the world. So yeah, I just want to go anywhere, somewhere without the Gotham smog where you can actually see the stars properly no matter what time of night it is.’

‘We should go.’

‘What?’

‘We should go, like next summer or something when you’ve finished up your first year in Star. We could work and save or just guilt some money off of Ollie and Bruce and just go.’

‘Yeah maybe,’ the, if you aren’t sick of me by then, went unsaid but stuck to Jason’s tongue all the same. Why the hell did his self-esteem have to be so damn faulty all the time, was it really so hard to believe that someone genuinely liked him?

They fell into a comfortable silence filled only by the soft clicking of Jason’s laptop as Roy scrolled through Netflix. They spent the next couple of hours with some generic apocalyptic film on that Roy claimed was revolutionary but Jason didn’t have a clue what was going on. He was too busy mapping Roy out under him, committing every inch of his skin to memory and refusing to think about anything involving mid-morning flights to cities hundreds of miles away.

\---

‘Guys Bruce says you need to- oh my god, put some clothes on, put some CLOTHES ON! It’s too early for this. What the fuck Jason?!’ Tim promptly ducked back out of the room to hide behind the safety of the door when a pair of boxers got hurled at his head. ‘Bruce says you need to come down for breakfast before Roy leaves because you hid up here all of last night.’

‘How did you even- DO NOT OPEN THAT DOOR REPLACEMENT- find us in here?’ 

Tim squeaked and the door immediately slammed back shut, ‘what do you think? I asked Alf.’

‘And Alfie told you?’

‘Well no, I asked Alfred and he said no so I went through yesterday’s security footage until I saw Roy coming in here.’

‘God you’re such a creep, we’ll be down in a few. Tell Bruce he can fucking wait and you can directly quote me on that.’

‘Yeah, fine, sure, just make sure you put some clothes on first because I am traumatized for life.’

‘Well maybe you should’ve knocked Timbo.’

‘No, no you do not get to blame this on me, I am traumatized Jason! And I am leaving now so just, get up, please!’

Jason listened to the sound of Tim’s retreating footsteps to make sure he was actually gone and not going to execute some eccentric plot in search of blackmail material, before he turned from the door to see Roy had turned onto his back and was shooting him a lazy grin. Still feeling far too tired, Jason opted to slump down against his boyfriend’s,  _ his boyfriend’s  _ still not over that, bare chest and wrap his arms around him tightly. How was it possible to feel so drained even after a full nights sleep? Guess yesterday’s events had had more of an effect than he’d tricked himself into believing.

‘Uh do we have to go downstairs Jaybird, I’d much rather stay up here with you.’

Jason sighed dramatically and look up at Roy without actually having moved his head so half his view was blocked by messy black bed hair. 

‘Painfully yes. Otherwise Bruce will come and drag us down, with or without clothes, if he wants us there.’

‘Really? But I don’t have any clothes? All my stuff is still at your apartment. We kind of came here in a rush yesterday and never ended up going to get it.’

‘I guess you’ll have to wear mine then.’

‘No complaints from here. Shower?’

‘Uhh please, skin feels gross.’

‘You might have to let go of me then Jaybird.’

‘Nu-uh.’

Roy’s laugh drifted over him like a warm blanket, ‘and here I was thinking Dickie was the hugger of the family.’

‘Quality over Quantity Roytoy, plus Dickface don’t have nothing on B.’

‘What big, cold and grumpy is a good hugger? I can’t picture it.’

‘He’s huge Roy, huge. Or at least he was when I was tiny, I don’t know what it would be like now.’

‘Probably still good. Now shower?’

‘Uuuuuh fine.’

\---

Despite apparently having been the one to demand they come down for breakfast, Bruce looked like he was a few moments from falling face first into his coffee when they came downstairs. Jason and Roy were mostly unacknowledged when they entered the room, aside from Damian scowling at their joined hands and Dick raising an eyebrow at the Gotham knights hoodie Roy was currently sporting. Jason pointedly ignored them both but he was secretly relieved that they were doing the thing where everyone pretended that the previously day had never happened as opposed to the thing where the whole family found themselves treading on eggshells for the next few weeks. 

‘Ah good to see you too are finally up, coffee?’

Jason smiled gratefully at Alfred as he claimed a mug to be filled and slid into the seat at the table as far from Bruce as he could could get whilst not being overly obvious about it. 

‘Hey Jay, I know it’s early but I figured I should let you know before you and Roy head for the airport?’

Jason frowned at Dick who was leaning across the table towards him with an unusually grim expression on his face, a stark contrast to his usual energy. He glanced at Roy who only shrugged in reply, apparently just as confused.

‘What is it then Dicholas?’

Dick sighed and ran a hand through his hair messily before spinning the tablet he was holding around in his hands to face them. The screen was opened up onto the news app and Dick had scrolled down past most of the political stories so they both had a full view of article after article all seemingly based on the same story. The biggest headline Jason could see struck him hard:  **IS WAYNE’S SECOND ELDEST UNSTABLE?** Underneath the headline was a photo of Jason and Roy in the park yesterday but opposed to the sweet ones he’d been looking at the day before Jason was wide-eyed and curled back up into the corner of that bench, staring only half comprehendingly at Roy who was clearly making an effort to calm him down. 

‘It’s, it’s not too bad,’ Dick didn’t sound that convinced himself as he scrolled down a little and selected a particular article, ‘I think they just saw some stuff and then Vicki ran with it like she does and everybody else followed behind.’ The new page Dick had pulled up included a youtube clip, Jason knew what it was before it even started playing and he really didn’t need to see that again right now. He hated seeing himself during an attack, panic or anger, at the best of times but not when he knew the rest of the world could get an eye full as well yet, he didn’t do anything to stop it when a grainy low-quality video of him screaming at Bruce outside the manor started to play. Luckily the person filming was too far away to make out any actual words but it was clearly bad and it was also distinct that Jason was wearing the exact same clothes as he was in the park photos making it much more difficult to pass them off as unrelated. That one was not so imaginably titled as:  **JASON TODD: ARISTOCRAT OR ARKHAM?** Jason felt mildly sick, as much as he resented being called an aristocrat, trust the Gazette to pull the place where his actual torturer is being held into this, not that that was actually public knowledge right now. And funny how he’s always Bruce Wayne’s son when he’s done something admirable but a nameless kid from Crime Alley when he’s being accused of something. He took a deep, successfully steady, breath. 

‘I don’t even care anymore, half of them treat me like I’m on the edge of a psychotic break just because I’m from Crime Alley anyway. This ain’t gonna make that much of a difference,’ Jason rolled his eyes in definitely nonchalance and turned back to his breakfast. He wasn’t totally sure why this was getting to him on some level, it wasn’t like stories like this about him weren’t semi-regular anyway. There were so many convoluted theories about his disappearance that he always seemed to be the thing the gossip pages returned to when they needed something new, at some point it just got irritating instead of worrying but he still hated it. Luckily, pretty much everything blows over if you give it enough time.

‘You want to ask Alfred if he will give you boys a lift to the airport later? Might be better if they can’t see it’s you two in the front seat?’

Jason scoffed, ‘we’ll be fine B, quit worrying.’

He figured that had come out a little harsher than necessary as Roy quickly chimed in with a, ‘thanks though Mr Wayne’, and squeezing his hand tightly where they were still joined beneath the table. Damian’s scowl deepened.

The rest of breakfast was a quiet affair, Dick’s nose buried in his tablet, only looking up every now and then to announce to the table a couple of the more outlandish theories of Jason’s disappearance the current story had brought back up. The one where Jason had apparently been ‘kidnapped by his birth mother and taken on the run throughout Europe before he had escaped and made his way back to Gotham alone’ had caused Tim to rather ungracefully spill coffee on his shirt, that was definitely more Kon’s size than his, whilst laughing and which left him slinking out the room to change.

All too soon the two of them were climbing into a car down in the garage to head for Jason apartment, for Roy’s stuff, and then onto the airport. 

‘How do you get the cars out of here babe? This place is a literal cave, I swear I can see actual bats from here.’

‘What kind of rich people do you think we are Harper? Secret back exit, of course.’

Jason grinned at Roy’s gaping (adorable) face as he spun the car around and took them straight out through the garage entrance that skipped the front of the manor and dropped them onto the road instead of right into the hungry mouths of Gotham’s gossip columnists.

‘So that was your family…’

‘So that was my family.’

‘Christmases must be insane.’

‘Maybe you’ll get to see for yourself one day?’ Shit was that too direct? Jason immediately felt his hands gripping the wheel tighter.

‘Yeah, yeah that’d be nice.’

‘You know I can’t believe it but I think Damian likes you.’

Jason grinned when Roy span in his seat to look at Jason straight on, ‘he literally spent the whole time glaring at me or threatening me.’

‘Exactly. First time Wally came over after Dick told the family they’d finally got together Damian would have actually stabbed him if Dick hadn’t gotten between them, although that might just be because Dick’s the favourite.’

‘Well I count my lack of stab wounds as a win then, and you know you’re my favourite Wayne Jaybird.’

‘Then you’re my favourite Harper,’ Jason wasn’t blushing,  _ he wasn’t. _

‘I’m literally the only Harper dude.’

‘Nah, Steph, Tim’s friend, definitely has friend called Harper that I’m pretty sure I’ve met a couple of times. She has blue hair.’

Roy shot him an amused, lopsided smile, ‘always good to know I rank highly Jaybird.’

‘You don’t need me to tell you that Roytoy.’

‘Maybe but that doesn’t mean I like hearing it from you any less.’

‘Sure.’

\---

‘Hey.’

‘Hey.’

‘You promise you’ll text me as soon as you land.’

‘I promise.’

‘And you sure you don’t want help carrying your bags in?’

‘Chill Jaybird, I got it, quit your fretting and gimme a kiss instead.’

Jason couldn’t help but grin a little lazily where he was leaning Roy into the side of the car, much like their positions when he’d first arrived only flipped. The time had gone far too quickly for Jason’s tastes. Roy’s lips pressed against his were still just as electric but slotted together far more naturally now, fuck Jason was going to miss him.

‘You, you can keep the clothes from this morning- if you want.’

Roy ran his thumb gently over the point where Jason’s skin met the waist of his jeans, ‘I’m gonna miss you too Jaybird. Though I guess if I’m holding onto this then you better look after this for  _ me. _ ’ 

Roy then fished one of those god awful trucker hats of his out of a bag and flipped it up onto Jason’s head with a flourish.

‘I’ll guard it with my life,’ Jason deadpanned with a raised eyebrow but inside he was glowing and he knew Roy could see it in his eyes as they leaned back into each other, Jason running his hands up into Roy’s hair, loose and curling at his neck today.

‘I’m gonna miss my flight if I don’t go soon Jaybird.’

‘Would that really be so bad.’

‘It wouldn’t be if I didn’t have a workshop to get back to running.’

More than reluctantly, Jason put some distance between himself and Roy.

‘Fuck Jay, if I don’t go now I’m sure I’m just gonna end up throwing you down onto the backseat instead. I’ll speak to you soon okay.’

And suddenly Jason was left watching the back of Roy’s head retreat to the entrance to the airport. He flipped off the photographer who he had been ignoring for the past 5 minutes as she looked as though she was about to approach and climbed into the car. It was far too many days until they would get to see each other again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So one more chapter to go lads...
> 
> Sorry this one took so long to get out but please let me know what you thought of it down in the comments!


	20. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so almost 6 months and almost 54,000 words later we've reached the end!
> 
> So Enjoy!

**An adamantly undisclosed despite definitely having been calculated number of months later…**

‘So you’ve got your laptop?’

‘Yes, of course.’

‘Clothes hangers?’

‘Yes.’

‘Pens and Pencils?’

‘We talked about that, I’m going to buy them when I get there or just steal some from Roy. Notebooks too.’

‘Fine. Your photos?’

‘Yeah.’

‘And your phone’s charged?’

‘Yes!’

‘And your hoodie incase you get cold on the flight?’

‘You can literally see it hanging out my bag from here B.’

‘And all the books you want to have with you?’

Jason scoffed, ‘like I’d forget those.’

‘And you promise you’ll call me as soon as Roy’s-’

‘Yes, I will call you as soon as Roy’s picked me up from the airport. I’m going to be fine Bruce, I know how to look out for myself.’

‘I know Jay, I just,’ Jason frowned as a strange indecipherable look crossed Bruce’s face and he didn’t have time to react before he found himself being crushed against the man, his head being forcibly shoved underneath the others chin. Despite there only being a couple of inches difference in their height now, Jason was suddenly reminded of back when he’d been fresh off the streets and easily the smallest kid in his class and Bruce had been able to literally swing him up into the air, much to Alfred’s protests.

Far too soon, though Jason would rather be seen dead (more likely than you think) than admit it, they broke apart. Bruce awkwardly thumped him on the shoulder several times before swiftly turning and picking up one of the suitcases off the floor. When he spoke it was in that too steady tone that always meant that he was actively trying to appear unaffected. Jason heard that voice a lot.

‘We’d better get this stuff down to the car otherwise you’re going to miss your flight.’

As much as Bruce had wanted him to take the jet, Jason insisted that he was perfectly capable of flying like everybody else and that he didn’t want to be ‘that kid who flew here on his dad’s private jet’ when he was already going to have to live through being Bruce Wayne’s kid anyway. Before it could dissolve into an all out fight, Dick and Alfred had launched a joint intervention and suggested a compromise. Jason was flying commercial, but he had to be in first class.

‘Alright old man, if you say so.’

With a grin, and all too familiar roll of his eyes, Jason grabbed his other suitcase and followed Bruce out the door towards the front of the manor. 

\---

‘Alfred wants to take pictures.’

‘No.’

‘But Little Wing!’

‘Whyyy!’

‘Cause it’s an important day, you’re the first Wayne to actually follow through when they said they were gonna go to college!’

‘I’m literally the second oldest, that isn’t that much of an achievement.’

‘Cass is 6 months older than you.’

Jason very maturely resisted the urge to stick his tongue out, ‘but I’m taller.’

‘Doesn’t matter anyway, Alf said that he puts his foot down about photos being a requirement so he told me that if you were difficult he wouldn’t allow you to take  _ any  _ of his cookies with you,’ Dick lent back against the wall of the manor, a smug look on his face.

‘He wouldn’t.’

‘He would.’

‘Uhh- fine, whatever. I guess it would be kind of nice to have a way to remember all your ugly mugs while I’m gone.’

‘Aww you gonna miss us little wing?’

Jason definitely crossed his arms because the breeze was getting a little chilly and definitely not because he was pouting, ‘I never said that.’

‘Nah you’re totally gonna, hey just before the others get out here I wanted to ask if you ever got in contact with Dinah like we talked about?’

Jason found himself looking at the floor and shuffling a little, suddenly grateful for the short distance Dick was maintaining between them, ‘yeah, yeah that happened. We’re going to grab some coffee or something next week. Nothing formal or any of that, we are just going to have a chat and see how it goes,’ he let himself smile slightly but didn’t look up from the ground, ‘honestly I’m still not convinced that she isn’t just gonna take the opportunity to give me the shovel talk.’

Glancing up, Jason was a little surprised to see that instead of staring at him Dick was actually looking distantly over at where Bruce and Alfred were talking by the car they had just loaded Jason bags into. When Dick’s eyes made to flick back over, Jason immediately refocused his sights on a particularly interesting stone beside his foot.

‘I know I haven’t always been the most understanding person in the world Jason, but between me and you, I’m so damn proud of you for making a start towards healing. Hell it’s more than any of the rest of us have properly done.’

Jason was saved from having to work past his clammed up throat by the rest of their little fucked up family coming out the front doors, the picture of sibling perfection. Well for all of five seconds before Damian stood on the back of Tim’s shoe causing him to have to make a hasty retreat in the direction of Bruce before Tim managed to work out a way to get free of Cass’ grip on his hood and give chase. Duke was watching this all unfold with a lot less worry than he would have done upon initial arrival. That kid was definitely a perfect fit for their particular brand of craziness in Jason’s book.

Before too long Jason found himself being hastily ushered into place on the front steps of the manor beside Bruce whilst everyone else stood behind Alfred with the camera, Dick smartly having placed himself between Damian and Tim. Trying to shake of any lingering anxiety by folding his arms, Jason glanced up at Bruce and suddenly found his system flooded with pleasant nostalgia as he was reminded of the taking of the picture he had secretly slotted in between some clothes in his suitcase in the hopes that nobody, least of all Bruce, would make a big deal out of his wanting to take it with him.

Jason couldn’t help but nudge Bruce with his elbow, ‘so how are we doing this-- spontaneous?’ He grinned wider when Bruce made that face for when he clearly wanted to smile but was trying to keep a straight face.

‘Serious.’

‘Sexy?’ Confusion crossed all his siblings faces as they came aware that this was some sort of joke that they weren’t in on.

‘Serious.’

Yep, that was definitely amusement Jason could hear in Bruce’s voice.

‘Really sirs--,’ Alfred’s tone from behind the camera was exasperated but equally fond, ‘cheese will do.’

\---

Later on, after he’d gotten on the plane, Jason got the chance to thumb through the photos Dick had spammed up his phone with after he’d no doubt stolen to camera from Alfred so he could order them all as fast as possible.

There was a couple of cute ones that Tim had snapped on his phone of Dick up on Jason’s shoulders, both grinning, followed by a rather amusing one of when they had managed to get Damian balanced up on Dick’s shoulders on Jason’s shoulders as well as one of Dick and him collapsed on the floor after Dick had insisted he was still capable of carrying Jason despite the growth spurt since he was 14. Spoiler, he wasn’t.

Next came the ones of him and Bruce. It was almost surreal to actually see first hand just how uncomfortable he looked in the first few shots, his shoulders tense and his hands fisted tightly at his sides. Though it was even stranger to see how he relaxed throughout the next shots until he reached one that made him freeze up as it struck him just how much the shot resembled the original one of him and Bruce that he had been thinking of when it was taken. Trying to shrug off that creepy but familiar feeling that the ghost of his younger self was watching him, Jason quickly flicked to the much safer ground of the big group pictures that everyone had insisted Alfred cracked out the timer and tripod to take so the  _ whole _ family could be in them.

The first were relatively boring with everyone standing together stoically, but as is usual for the Waynes, that didn’t exactly last long. Looking at the pictures, Jason could almost pinpoint the exact moment that Bruce decided what he wanted to do, there was a shot of him with that signature Wayne smirk on his face whilst shooting a sideways look in the rest of their direction. The remaining photos read like a damn flick book. Bruce taking it upon himself to push Dick. Who promptly fell into Duke and swung an arm into Damian’s face. From there it was a domino affect. Dick and Duke’s combined weight taking Jason down too, Damian being dragged into Tim by Dick’s arm, who then tripped over Jason’s falling leg and directly into Cass. The last shot showed the lot of them in a pile on the floor, each with their own unique but immortalised facial expression, Bruce standing over them looking far too proud of himself and Alfred standing at the other end staring across at him with a judgemental eyebrow raised. Yeah, screw the formal ones. This one was definitely the photo Jason was going to hang onto.

\---

Jason heard Roy pause after he’d put the second suitcase down, a little before he felt hands wrapping around his back and a head land on his shoulder, they were working to bring his stuff into Jason dorm room because they had decided that him living on campus would be best for first year, that moving straight in together is something that would likely only lead to miscommunications and disaster.

‘Aww bro look, I knew you used to be cute.’

Jason had what was probably the earliest photo of him that still existed clutched in his hands. Despite being a creased mess and covered in water damage after all its time shoved in his pocket whilst he was on the streets, you could still mostly make out the picture itself. Most of Jason’s better memories from before the streets had become pretty distorted over time but he knew that this day itself was the one when dad had come home with a tiny shivering ball of matted golden fur wrapped in his jacket. Together Jason, his dad and his mum (who had actually been trying to get clean at the time) had washed what turned out the be a soaking wet and muddy puppy in the sink and rubbed him down using one of dad’s old shirts until the little dog had stopped shaking and was sat in Jason’s lap where he’d settled on the floor. His dad had used the cheap camera, that Jason later figured he must have lifted from a store, on top of a chair to take the picture with Jason in the middle with Sparky settled in his lap and his mum and dad on either side of him.

Jason shook himself out of the memory and tried for a grin whilst turning around to face Roy, ‘cute? Harper I don’t know what to say.’

‘Sorry am I under selling you? You’re definitely adorable.’

Jason scoffed but this time he was grinning for real, wide and genuine, whilst ducking his head a little but before he got a chance to reply he felt the featherlight touch of Roy’s fingers against the bottom of his dipped chin.

‘I wish you’d look up when you smiled Jay,’ Jason was surprised to hear the sudden tone shift in Roy’s voice from teasing to doleful, ‘you’re so fucking gorgeous but every time you start to smile you look straight down at the floor like you don’t want anyone to see. I bet your eyes sparkle when you smile Jaybird, and it would be really really nice if I could know for sure.’

Roy’s fingers stayed tracing the lines of his jaw but Jason was thankful they didn’t tense and force him to look up like he’d expected. It felt better to be able to lift his eyes of his own volition. They were still standing incredibly close and Jason couldn’t see anything other than the earnest look in Roy’s bright green eyes, not a hint of manipulation or any other form of ill-intent. Just Roy, who was so beautiful and brave and caring and everything Jason didn’t deserve but wanted to work so he could believe that he could may be get to the-

‘Man I’ve just moved out of a house full of guys that I constantly walked in on, please don’t make me relive that.’

‘Hey! I feel like that’s a jab at me.’

‘And why, pray tell, do you think that Hal?’

Jason sighed as Roy turned round to look at the two guys who had just entered the room each carrying a cardboard box in their arms. He gestured with one hand whilst rubbing his forehead with the other.

‘Kyle this is my boyfriend Roy. Roy this is Kyle Rayner, my roommate. We met when you went to park the car.’

Kyle shot Roy a half wave around the box he was waving and Jason totally ignored the guy who was with him, Hal, when he almost dropped his box whilst trying to nudge Kyle with elbow and wiggle his eyebrows suggestively at the same time.

And he was meant to be leaving the weirdness behind in Gotham? Not likely.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so so much to everyone that has bookmarked, commented and/or left kudos on this fic. I appreciate every single one of you and want you to know that you're awesome and that I'm so glad I've created something that you've enjoyed.
> 
> That being said I would love to know what everyone thought of this chapter and of the whole story down in the comments so I can write better ones in the future.
> 
> Thank you to anyone who has actually managed to make it this far down! You're fantastic and you know what? I am so damn proud of myself for finishing something this long.


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